7 Years and Counting
by Punch Drunk Marc
Summary: The sequel to "The Knight & Her Guardian Dragon". Things have changed in Fiore since the return of Fairy Tail's strongest from Tenrou Island. Still picking up the pieces and finding their place, Fairy Tail encounters new rivals and enemies; but Natsu and Erza have a different dilemma on their hands as they try to make up for 7 years of lost time with their daughter.
1. Preview

**This is a preview for the sequel of "The Knight & Her Guardian Dragon" hope you guys enjoy. The first chapter will be out soon. **

**I don't own Fairy Tail. It belongs to Hiro Mashima and his publishers.**

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_7 years._ Erza thought to herself as she looked out the window of her and Natsu's home. _Were we really gone for that long?_ It doesn't seem real. She looked out at the horizon as the setting sun gave the sky a golden hue. She looked down at her hand, turning and rotating it, analyzing it for any signs of age. _I haven't changed at all. None of us from the island have, thanks to Master Mavis._ She sat back in her chair and tried to absorb everything that happened since her return.

…

"Y-You're married?!" Erza asked her eyes wide as she looked at a smiling Alzack and Bisca.

"Yeah, for about 6 years now." Alzack replied.

"It took me forever to wear Al down." Bisca said with a smile nudging him. "He was so nervous and-"

"Can we just skip that part?" Alzack said embarrassed.

"C-congratulations." Erza stammered bowing. "Please take of her." She said nervously to Alzack.

"Thanks, but you don't have to be so formal Erza." Bisca reassured with a smile as she helped the red-haired wizard stand up straight. "We're the same as you and Natsu."

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, a confused look on her face.

"I mean being married." Bisca replied.

Erza looked away, her face beginning to turn red. "Natsu and I…aren't married." She said low, a bit embarrassed.

"You're not?!" Bisca asked, her eyes wide with surprise. "I could have sworn you two-"

Erza shook her head. "We aren't."

"Well, do you want to marry him?"

"Come on Bisca, that's enough." Alzack said putting his hand on his wife's shoulder, he feared that she was making Erza uncomfortable.

"It's ok." Erza said with a smile, reassuring Alzack. She then looked over at Natsu, who was surrounded by members of the guild as he exaggerated the battle against Grimoire Heart. "It's not that I don't want to marry him-"Erza said with a small smile. "It's just that we haven't really had a chance to talk about it, and you know how Natsu can be."

"You're right about that." Bisca said with a laugh. "He probably wouldn't even know what marriage is." The three of them laughed at the thought of Natsu being in a tuxedo and standing at an altar. Although Erza saw the scene as more attractive than humorous.

Erza looked over to Asuka who was playing with Happy and Carla. "Your daughter is beautiful." Erza said with a warm smile.

"Thank you." Bisca said with a loving smile as they all turned their attention towards the young girl. "She can be a bit of a handful at times though." She said with a small chuckle.

"I imagine most kids are at that age." Erza said with a smile.

…

Erza opened her eyes and returned to looking out the window. Marrying Natsu. She thought to herself, although she was bit uneasy at the idea. Of course she loved Natsu, she wanted to be with him for as long as she was able, but marriage was something that rarely entered her mind. It was such a big step and she knew she wouldn't be able to take it lightly. I'm sure he knows the concept of husband and wife. Erza thought as she began tapping her finger on the wooden windowsill. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it. There's no need to rush, we have plenty of time to think about it. She smiled to herself.

She looked outside and saw that the sky was beginning to turn dark. "Where are they?" she thought aloud. "They should have been back by now." She tapped her finger harder, growing more irritated by the second. "He better not have-"

"We're home!" Natsu yelled, bursting through the front door with a smile. Happy slowly hovered from the Dragon Slayer's shoulder and dropped onto the windowsill exhausted. Erza smiled and pet the cat, she then narrowed her gaze and looked back towards Natsu.

"Where were you?" she asked in a frightening tone, causing Natsu's hair to stand on end.

"We uh-"he began stammering frightened, Erza continuing to stare a hole in him until she saw a small head of pink hair moved from behind his leg.

"Mommy!" a little girl, no older than six, ran towards Erza. A huge smile on her dirt covered face. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were a little worse for wear but Erza nonetheless picked her up and placed her on her lap.

"Hi sweetie." Erza said with a warm smile as she rubbed some of the dirt off of her daughter's cheek. "Did you have fun with Daddy and Aunt Lucy?" she asked.

Aura nodded with a smile. "Yeah, we took the train to Shiso…Shirot…"

"Shirotsume." Erza said with a smile.

"Yeah there. Daddy got sick on the train and he started making funny faces." Aura tried to imitate Natsu's sick faces, causing Erza to laugh.

"How did you get all dirty?" Erza asked in a motherly tone.

"Daddy took me to the park when we got home."

"Yeah and it rained yesterday so it was still wet." Natsu said with a nervous laugh, he knew Erza was still angry with him.

"Well let's get you cleaned up." Erza said standing up as Aura got off of her lap and grabbed her hand. "Then it's off to bed, its past your bedtime."

"But I'm not tired." Aura pouted.

"The faster you got to sleep the faster you can see everyone at the guild hall tomorrow." Erza said, causing the young girl to smile.

"Really?" Aura said with a smile. Erza simply nodded.

Natsu tried to inch towards the bedroom. "Stay right there Natsu." Erza commanded, instantly causing him to stop. "I'll deal with you in a moment."

An hour later Erza had finished bathing Aura and placed her in bed. It took about a week to remodel Aura's room since she was no longer a baby, but not much had changed aside from the bed and a few of the more baby friendly items being taken out. Erza smiled as her daughter slept peacefully, she then slowly closed the door to her room.

She walked back towards the main area of the house, Natsu was still standing at attention. "You can relax." She said. Natsu graciously relaxed his body and hesitantly sat at the dining table across from Erza.

"Are you mad at me?" Natsu said with puppy dog eyes.

"No, I'm not mad." Erza said sighing. "I was just…worried."

"Sorry." Natsu said sulking. He knew why Erza was in her current mood, if the roles were reversed he would have felt the same way.

"It's ok." Erza said. "Just be more careful next time."

"I will." Natsu replied still sulking.

Erza smiled softly and placed her hands on the table. Suddenly Natsu felt something on his forehead and looked up, Erza had leaned over the table, kissing him on the forehead. He blushed as he watched her sit back down.

"Now, how did the mission with Lucy go?" she asked with a smile.

"You should have been there-"Natsu began with a smile as he began regaling Erza about his day. Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched from afar.

"Is this the place?" asked a shadowed figure looking at Natsu and Erza's house from the trees.

"Yes." Another figure answered. "It is just as he predicted. All of Fairy Tail's lost members have returned."

"What do we do?" the first figure asked.

"It would be unwise to proceed without the Master's approval." The figure looked at their arm, it glowed faintly showing the names of the other members that returned from Tenrou Island. "We should check out the others on this list and report our findings to the master."

"Fine." The second figure conceded. "Who is next?"

"Wendy Marvell." The first figure said. The two then sprouted wings and took to the air, their next destination being Fairy Hills dormitory.

…

* * *

**Well there it is the preview of the sequel to "Knight and her Guardian Dragon". Hope you guys like it, I have a few ideas that I'm jotting down and once I get those organized I'll officially start. Let me know what you guys think.**


	2. Daddy Time: Four Men, a cat, and a baby

**Authors Note: The first two chapters take place before the time skip, so they are before the preview.**

* * *

"There you go." Erza said with a smile as she fed Aura another spoonful of food, although more of it fell onto the baby's bib than in her mouth. Erza laughed a bit as she wiped the corners of her daughter's mouth with a warm cloth. "You're quite the messy one aren't you? Just like your father. Speaking of which-"Erza looked up from her daughter and scanned the empty home.

"Where is Natsu?" She said as she continued looking around. "Happy's gone as well." She then looked down at Aura, who was looking up with her eyes wide and gurgling. Erza smiled again, picking Aura up and holding her with one arm. "Let's go find your daddy and Uncle Happy, ok?" She cooed with a smile as she lightly bounced the smiling baby up and down.

Erza walked out of the house and looked around, but Natsu and Happy were nowhere to be found. "Where are they?" Erza said to herself as she looked around at the trees. "Where do you think they ran off to?" she asked Aura, who continued looking at her wide eyed.

"GOT IT!" A voice yelled from the west.

"Natsu?" Erza asked.

"Wow that's a big one!" another voice yelled excitedly.

"That sounded like Happy." Erza said turning towards the direction from which she heard the noise. She then began walking.

"What are we going to do with it?" Happy said as he and Natsu looked over at the fish they had just caught, it had to be at least 10 feet long. They both stood there salivating over how best to deal with it.

"We're gonna eat it of course." Natsu replied.

"I know that." Happy retorted. "But how? A fish this beautiful has to be prepared with utmost of care, you can't just burn it like you always do."

"I don't burn all the fish." Natsu pouted. "You just can't handle spicy food."

"There you are." Erza said emerging from the tree line. Natsu and Happy looked up at her as she walked down the small hill towards the pond, Aura sitting comfortably on her arm.

"Hey Erza." Natsu said with a smile as she approached him. He then looked over at Aura and smiled wider. "Hey." Erza handed Aura over to her father who proceed to lift her up and down much to the baby's delight.

"We were looking everywhere for you two." Erza said looking down at Natsu and Happy. "When did you come out here?" she asked looking at the pond.

"Before the sun came up." Natsu answered, placing Aura in his lap.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You were still sleeping."

"Natsu was too scared to wake you up." Happy corrected.

"Shut up." Natsu said.

He looked down and saw Aura reaching for the fish and cooing. "Yeah, I caught that." Natsu said. "You want to eat it?"

"She's too young to eat that Natsu." Erza said.

"Really?" Natsu said with surprise. He then looked down at Aura who looked back at him. "That sucks huh?" he said to her with a smile.

"Goo?" she cooed turning her head slightly, Natsu turning his head to match hers.

"Erza can you cook this big fish for us?" Happy asked looking up at the knight with a gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah." Natsu said as Aura played with his cheeks, stretching them a bit. "Can you?"

Erza looked over the fish and thought about what she could make out of it. "I don't know, it's pretty big. That maybe too much for me." She said facetiously.

"Pleeeease?" Natsu and Happy pleaded with puppy dog eyes, which was ironic coming from Happy since he's a cat.

Erza eventually relented when a small smile appeared on her face. "Ok ok, I'll prepare it for dinner."

"Yeah!" Natsu and Happy said happily.

"That's enough, come on you two." Erza said. "It's time to head to the guild hall."

"Ok." Natsu gave Aura back to Erza and stood up, grabbing the fish and hoisting it onto his shoulder. "Let's go Happy."

"Aye" Happy answered as he followed behind the pair.

6 months had passed since Aura was born, and Natsu and Erza were still getting used to concept of being parents. Despite a few hiccups, they managed to survive the more difficult moments. Erza took care of most of the baby girl's needs, but Natsu helped where he could. Happy was there as well, but he mostly provided commentary when Natsu screwed up.

"Hurry up Natsu." Erza said impatiently as she stood by the door of their home. Aura sat in the sling tied across Erza's chest, her head peeking from behind her mother's shoulder as Happy stood next to Erza.

"I'm coming hold on." Natsu replied as he stepped out of the bedroom, fixing his scarf around his neck. He walked up to her. "Ok I'm ready."

"It's about time." Erza said irritated. "Let's go." Erza opened the door and the four began making their way towards the Fairy Tail guild hall.

Erza internally scolded herself about her attitude towards Natsu but she couldn't help it, she was anxious. The day had finally come, the day where she would finally be able to go on jobs again. She had been waiting for this day ever since her pregnancy. Her magical power had slowly returned since giving birth to Aura and last week they were fully restored. While she was initially told to wait at least a month to try and use magic, Erza started training again after only two weeks. Although since most of her day consisted of taking care of the baby, she only found time to train at night; Natsu sometimes joining her.

Natsu burst through the guild hall doors with his usual bluster. "Hey guys!" he yelled with a smile, everyone else greeting him as they always did. Natsu, Erza, and Happy spotted the rest of their team sitting close to the bar and made their way there. Natsu sat next to Gray, Happy flew to where Wendy and Carla sat, and Erza took Aura out of her sling; holding her as she took her seat next to Lucy.

"Good morning everyone." Mirajane said with her usual warm smile as she walked over to the table. "Good morning Aura." She cooed poking the baby's nose, causing her to laugh.

"Hi." Lucy said smiling at Aura, taking the baby girls hands and moving them up and down which caused her to giggle more.

"How is she?" Lucy asked looking up at Erza.

"She's quite the handful." Erza said with a warm smile as she looked down at her daughter, who began babbling.

"Awwww." Lucy and Mirajane said in unison, melting at the sight. "She's been doing that a lot lately as well." Erza said with a smile.

Wendy sat fidgeting at the edge of the table. She wanted to go over and see the baby but she was nervous. She had no idea what to say, feeling the pressure to emulate the description she was told by Aura's future self. She wanted to be confident like she described, but had no idea how.

"Come here Wendy." Erza said, noticing the young girl's uneasiness.

"M-me?" Wendy asked in disbelief.

"Not unless someone else by that name joined our guild recently." Erza replied.

"O-ok." Wendy said nervously as she got up from her seat and walked to Erza's side. Mirajane stepped back a bit in order to give the young dragon some space. "Y-yes?" Wendy asked, wondering why Erza had suddenly called her over.

"Do you want to hold her?" Erza asked looking at Wendy.

"W-what?" Wendy asked, her face turning red.

"Do you want to hold Aura?" Erza asked again.

"I-I don't…" Wendy looked over to Carla who was sipping tea, Happy sitting next to her. The tabby looked over at her embarrassed friend.

"Just hold her, child." Carla said. "She won't bite…possibly, human babies are still a mystery to me." She said as she sipped her tea once more.

Slightly less nervous, Wendy slowly nodded at Erza. "O-ok, I'll hold her." Erza smiled and lifted Aura from her lap, placing her in Wendy's open arms. Wendy saw warm smiles coming from the girls and she meekly smiled back. She then looked down at Aura as she lie in the Sky Dragon's cradled arms. The baby looked up at Wendy with wide eyes and Wendy stared back.

"H-hello. I'm Wendy." She stammered nervously. She then saw Aura's small hand rise up and grab her hair.

"Ow." Wendy yelped as Aura pulled the young girl's blue locks. Aura began smiling and laughing as Wendy nervously laughed back.

"I think she likes you Wendy." Erza said with a soft smile.

"Nng…Agh…Really?" Wendy asked wincing, trying her best to ignore the pain of her hair being pulled.

Erza nodded. "I think that's how she says hello."

"Yeah." Gray added. "The kid almost pulled my hair out when I held her." He said running his fingers through his hair.

Wendy gave Aura back to Erza and returned to her seat with a smile. Carla saw the young girl's expression and smiled herself.

"So what's Fairy Tail's strongest team up to today?" Mirajane asked.

"We're going on a job of course." Erza said confidently. "Find us one Gray, and make sure it's a challenging one." She commanded. The Ice wizard reluctantly rose from his seat and walked to the request board, grumbling under his breath.

"Are you sure you should be taking a job now Erza?" Lucy asked.

Erza nodded. "I am. My magic is fully restored and it's been too long since I've enjoyed a good battle." She said with a confident smirk.

_She sounds like Natsu._ Lucy and Mirajane thought in unison as they smiled nervously and looked at the dragon slayer.

"Here." Gray said as he placed the job request on the table. The group looked at it as Natsu read aloud.

"Strong Wizards Wanted To Escort Merchants to Hargeon

Reward: 40,000 Jewel"

"Sounds pretty straightforward." Lucy said.

"Hmm." Erza grumbled. "Not as challenging as I hoped, but I suppose it will do for now. Hopefully there will be bandits along the way." She then stood up, holding Aura in her arm. "We'll depart this afternoon."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Erza looked around at them. "Alright!" Natsu said excitedly. "Finally we get to go on a mission with everyone again."

"You're not going Natsu." Erza said stern, deflating all of his enthusiasm.

"What?!" Natsu said in disbelief. "Why not?!"

"One of us has to stay and watch Aura." She said directing Natsu's eyes at their child, who was playing with Erza's hair.

"Why can't we bring her with us?" Natsu asked. Everyone sweat dropped as they all grew silent, Gray shaking his head in disapproval.

"Idiot." He said under his breath.

Erza's glare hardened. "You would bring our baby on a dangerous mission that will probably have us in battle with bandits and wild forest Vulcans?" Her voice was cold. Natsu opened his mouth to speak but then looked over to his daughter who was staring back at him. He then thought about all the things that could happen on the mission and about Aura's safety.

Aura gurgled and Natsu's look softened, but his shoulder's dropped with slight disappointment. "Fine, I'll stay." He said slightly sad.

"Good." Erza said with a smile. She looked at Aura one last time before handing her to Natsu. "Mommy's going on a job but she'll be back soon. Will you be a good girl for Daddy?" Erza cooed to her giggling daughter as she rubbed her head, kissing it soon after. Natsu looked at his daughter and gave her a smile.

He was disappointed to say the least. Not because of Aura, no, he loved his daughter. He was just distraught that he wouldn't have to wait until he went on a mission with his team again but he knew he had to be a good dad, and going on this mission was important to Erza.

"Alright, let's get going." Gray said cracking his knuckles.

"Hold on Gray." Erza said.

"What?" he answered looking back at her.

"You're not going either."

"What?!" he yelled in disbelief just as Natsu had. "Why not?"

"I need you to stay here and watch Natsu, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble while he's watching Aura."

"Can't Lucy do it?" he asked pointing at the blonde.

"Hey don't drag me into this." Lucy protested.

"Lucy's wide variety of spirits could be valuable on this mission." Erza pointed out.

"Well then what about Wendy?" he asked pointing at the Sky Dragon Slayer.

"We need her healing magic in case one of us gets injured."

"Mira?"

"She has her own job."

"Well I still don't see why I have to-"Gray's mouth instantly shut when he felt Erza's cold glare, colder than even his own magic, piercing his body. He tried to stay strong but it was too much for him. "Ok, I'll stay." He slumped his shoulders, Gray Fullbuster had admitted defeat.

"Thank you." Erza said with a smile. "Come on you two, let's get ready leave."

"Right." Lucy said looking back at the boys worriedly.

"Come along Wendy." Carla called to the young girl, who was uneasy about leaving Natsu and Gray behind.

"O-ok." She reluctantly replied as she ran after Erza and Lucy. Much to Natsu's chagrin, Happy went along as well, most likely to follow Carla.

"Traitor." Natsu mumbled under his breath.

Both Natsu and Gray sighed in disappointment when Erza's group exited the guild hall. Natsu then held Aura in front of him. "I guess it's just you and me now huh?" She giggled, causing Natsu to smile.

"So what do we do now?" Gray asked as he and Natsu sat back at the table.

"I don't know." Natsu said as he placed Aura on top of the table, letting her play with his hand.

"Just my luck to be stuck here with you." Gray said, turning away irritated.

"It's not like I wanna be here with you either." Natsu said with a scowl. The silence between the two grew more awkward as the time passed. Eventually Natsu spoke up. "So where's Juvia?" he asked looking up.

"She went on a job with Lisanna and Shadow Gear. Why?"

"I don't know. You guys just seem kinda close." Natsu replied as he watched Aura try to put one of his fingers in her mouth.

"It's not like that." Gray replied. More time passed between them before Gray spoke again. "How's things with Erza?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, his cheeks now being pushed together by Aura.

Gray ignored the odd look on Natsu's face and powered through. "I mean you guys have been living together for over a year now right?"

"Yeah, and?" Natsu asked still not understanding.

"How is it? We both know how Erza can be."

Natsu sat and pondered for a moment about the question. "It was kinda weird at first." He finally answered, "But, I don't know. I guess I just got used to her being there all the time. Now it feels weird when she's not around." Natsu blushed a bit.

Mirajane caught a bit of the boy's conversation from behind the bar as she cleaned glasses, smiling to herself when she saw Natsu blush.

"You guys sleep in the same bed?" Gray asked.

"Yeah why wouldn't we?" Natsu asked with a confused look.

Gray shrugged. "I don't know, just making conversation." The two sat in another awkward silence, this one longer than the others. Neither of them knew what to talk about anymore. Normally in a situation like this they would have a fight over something trivial like Natsu's constant whistling or the fact that Gray was once again without a shirt; but the baby being there discouraged that course of action.

"So how's being a dad?" Gray asked.

"It's pretty cool." Natsu said with a smile. "I feel like Igneel. Although Aura can't talk yet."

"She's only 6 months right? I don't think babies talk that early."

"Maybe, this is actually the first time I've been with her without Erza around."

"Really?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, usually it's Erza and I takin care of her, well more Erza. I don't really know what to do without her around." He gave an embarrassed.

"You suck as a father." Gray said with a smirk.

"Yeah." Natsu said laughing. Aura began laughing as well, but suddenly her eyes began to water and her lower lip quivered.

"Waahhh!" she wailed much to Natsu and Gray's surprise as she began crying.

"What's wrong with her?!" Gray asked.

"I don't know." Natsu said as they looked at the crying baby, who was laying on her back. The two continued looking down at her completely lost.

…

Erza, Lucy, Happy, Wendy, and Carla walked through the East Forest alongside the merchant convoy. There were no signs of bandits or wild animals yet, but their eyes remained peeled for any sign of trouble.

"Thank you so much for escorting us through the forest." The head merchant said to Erza as he rode atop his horse. "I hope we didn't inconvenience you by requesting this job, there is just so many things that can go wrong in the wild."

"It's no trouble at all." Erza replied with a smile. "We were happy to accept the job, and we will do our absolute best to protect all of you and your goods."

"Thank you so much." The merchant said bowing slightly. He then resumed looking ahead.

"Hey Erza are you sure it was ok to leave the guild like that?" Lucy asked, obviously concerned about Natsu and Gray.

"It's alright Lucy, I trust Natsu and Gray. They won't let anything happen to Aura." Erza said with a smile as she continued walking.

_It's not the baby I'm worried about._ Lucy thought with a nervous smile.

…

Natsu and Gray continued looking down at Aura who was still crying, interestingly enough Gajeel, Elfman, and Pantherlily were all huddled around the table as well.

"Can't you stop her cryin? I was tryin to sleep." Gajeel grumbled, giving Natsu an irritated look.

"I would but I don't what's wrong with her." Natsu said.

"Perhaps she is tired." Pantherlily suggested.

"I don't think so." Natsu said.

"Maybe the kid needs to eat." Elfman suggested.

"She ate just before we left home." Natsu said

"Perhaps she misses Erza." Pantherlily commented.

"She was fine when Erza left." Natsu said.

"Sounds to me like she needs to be changed." Mirajane interjected from the bar, causing all the boys to turn around.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu said. "Wait…" Natsu sniffed the air, and Mira was right Aura did need to be changed, bad. Natsu's face grew white with fear, he never liked changing dirty diapers.

"So, you gonna changer her?" Gray asked.

"I don't want to." Natsu pouted. "Gajeel you do it." He looked over to the Iron Dragon Slayer."

"Why the hell should I do it? She's not my kid." Gajeel retorted.

"Elfman?"

"Nope, I don't do dirty diapers." Elfman replied shaking his head.

"Mira?"

"Sorry I still have work to do." The barmaid replied with a smile.

"Lily?"

"I would but I don't have opposable thumbs." The exceed replied holding up his paws. He could have easily done it in his battle form, but seeing as how Natsu didn't mention it, he didn't find it important to bring it up.

Natsu began looking in Gray's direction. "Don't even think about it." The Ice Wizard said not looking at Natsu.

"Fine." Natsu sighed and looked over to his left to the bag lying on the ground next to the bench. He grabbed it and placed it on the table next to Aura. He then opened the latch at the top and opened the bag. Inside were saw diapers, food, a blanket, and other baby care items.

He reached inside the bag and pulled out a diaper, and what appeared to be a piece of paper was attached to it. "What's this?" he asked turning it over in his hand before Gray snatched it away from him.

"Hey! What's the-"Natsu began irritated.

"Shut up and change your kid. I'll read this." Gray retorted. Natsu wanted to hit him, but he relented and turned his attention to his still crying daughter. _Man she sure does cry a lot._ Natsu thought to himself as Gray began reading the paper aloud.

"Natsu, if you are reading this then you have finally begun taking responsibility as a parent."

"What?" he said looking back at Gray irritated.

"Hey don't look at me, Erza wrote it."

"Man that's harsh." Elfman commented.

"I thought it was funny." Gajeel said with a smirk.

"Shut up." Natsu grumbled.

…

"Achoo!" Erza sneezed catching everyone around her off guard.

"Bless you." Wendy said with a smile.

"Thank you." Erza replied smiling back.

"Someone must be talking about you." Lucy said with a mischievous smirk.

"That's just superstition." Erza retorted.

…

Gray cleared his throat to get the others to quiet down and continued reading the note. "Seeing as how this is the note attached to the diaper, I assume that it is time to change Aura. Either that or you clumsily opened the wrong note."

Natsu sulked even more as Elfman and Gajeel snickered, Mirajane even began giggling lightly.

"If you are still staring at the diaper as it if it were a foreign object, I assume you weren't paying attention the last time I taught you how to change a diaper and our daughter is going hoarse from crying for so long." Gray stopped reading the note and turned his attention to Natsu, who was doing just as the note stated. "You don't know how to change her diaper?"

Natsu smiled and scratched behind his head nervously. "Not really no."

"What kind of man doesn't know how to change his kid's diaper?" Elfman commented.

"You really do suck Salamander." Gajeel added, shaking his head.

Natsu began sulking again as Gray continued reading the note.

"So I'm going to guide you through the process…again. In the bag there should be blanket."

Natsu reached into the bag and pulled out said blanket. "Ok what do I do now?" he asked looking back at Gray.

"Place the blanket under Aura, this will allow you to change her without worrying about the germs on the surface you are changing her on."

Natsu lifted up the still crying Aura and spread the blanket atop the table before placing her back down. "Ok."

"Next, before you do anything, wash your hands…thoroughly." Gray spoke flat, but Natsu could sense Erza's patented sternness through her written words. He walked behind the bar, Mirajane allowing him space to wash his hands in the sink before he returned to the table. Gray watched him return before he continued reading.

"Open the clean diaper and place it under Aura."

"Ok." Natsu said after completing the task.

"Make sure you distract her so she doesn't move around while you're changing her."

"Distraction…distraction." Natsu mumbled looking around him. "Hey Gajeel!" he yelled looking at the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"What?"

"Do that stupid face you make when you're angry."

"What?!" Gajeel yelled offended, furrowing his brown, narrowing his eyes, and gritting his teeth. "I'll show you stupid." He walked closer to Natsu, but couldn't help but notice that Aura had stopped crying. He looked down at her and saw that she was fixated on his still twisted face. He fixed it, and sure enough she started crying again causing him to quickly twist it again.

"Aw, she likes your angry face." Mirajane said from behind the bar.

"Shut up." Gajeel replied, his face still contorted. "Hurry up Salamander, I can't hold this forever." He grumbled.

"Next, carefully unfasten Aura's diaper. Use the front half to wipe any excess waste from her bottom."

Natsu unfastened his daughter's diaper and instantly felt a gust of foul air attack his nostrils. Elfman, Gray, and Gajeel felt it as well; but Natsu and Gajeel got the worst of it due to their enhanced sense of smell. Aura began laughing.

"I think she knows that she stinks." Elfman said holding his nose.

Natsu turned his head away and carefully wiped Aura's bottom with the cloth diaper. "W-what's next?" he struggled to speak.

"Next," Gray started as he continued to hold his nose. "Wet one of the cloths in the bag and use it to wipe Aura back to front."

"Mira-"Natsu began his nose still burning. "Can you help me out on that one?"

"Sure." Mirajane said with a smile. She walked from behind the bar towards the table where everyone was gathered and reached inside the bag, but not before catching a whiff of Aura's dirty diaper. "Oh, someone's a stinky baby." Mirajane cooed as she lightly poked a laughing Aura's nose. She returned to the sink and wet the cloth in warm water before giving it back to Natsu. "Here you go." She said handing it back to him.

"Thanks." He took the cloth and wiped Aura down before moving the dirty diaper to the side and fastening the clean one. "There ya go kiddo, all clean right?" he smiled wide at his cooing daughter.

"Finally." Gajeel said fixing his face. "That took forever."

"Gotta admit, it was kinda cool seeing Natsu change his kid's diaper." Elfman commented.

"What?" Natsu said as he walked back from throwing away the dirty diaper.

"Our little dragon slayer is growing up." Mirajane said with a warm smile, causing Natsu to blush.

"It's not like that. A dad's supposed to take care of his kid right?"

Gray smirked as he folded up the note and handed it to Natsu. "Here."

"Thanks." Natsu took the note and put it back in the bag before folding up the blanket, putting it back in the bag as well before closing it.

He placed Aura back on the table and took a ball out of the side pocket of the bag, holding it up to her. "You want the ball?"

"Ba." Aura said.

"Ball?"

"Baa." She said with a slight inflection.

"Ball." Natsu said slower.

"Ba."

"Eh, close enough." He smiled and handed her the ball, much to her delight. "Man, when will you be able to talk?" he said laying his head down, watching Aura play with the ball.

Mirajane giggled, "Be patient Natsu. She's only six months old."

He continued looking at his daughter and smiled a bit as she continued playing with the ball.

"Gotta admit, the kid is cute." Elfman said.

"Must have got that from Titania." Gajeel commented with a smirk, earning him a glare from Natsu.

"Yeah, how did she end up with a knuckle head like you for a dad?" Gray teased, although Natsu sulked a bit after hearing it.

"Sometimes I don't think I'm cut out for this whole dad thing." Natsu said a bit sullen. "It's been six months and Erza still has to do almost everything for Aura, I can barely change a diaper."

"Geez man I was just joking." Gray said catching Natsu's mood. "I'm sure you're a good dad." He looked over at Aura who pushed the ball towards Natsu, who pushed it back at her. "See? She thinks so."

"Yeah, stop worryin so much." Gajeel commented. "It's annoying."

"Takes a real man to raise a kid." Elfman said nodding.

"Besides, I'm sure Erza appreciates everything that you are able to do. There's probably some things you can do for Aura that she can't." Mirajane said.

"Maybe." Natsu said pushing the ball back to Aura. Despite still feeling uneasiness when it came to raising Aura, he did feel a bit better after talking to his friends about it.

"Have you told Erza about how you feel?" Mirajane asked.

"No." Natsu answered plainly. "I don't want to worry her about it, she has other things going on. Especially since the S-Class trials are coming up in a couple of months."

"Oh yeah, those are coming up soon." Gray said snapping his fingers.

"S-Class Trials?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah, it's a test to see who is gonna be the next wizard to reach S-Class, the strongest of the strong in the guild." Elfman explained.

"Is everyone in it?"

"Nah, the master usually picks the people with the best overall performance of the year. Most missions completed and stuff like that." Gray said.

"Hey sis, what's the test gonna be this year?" Elfman asked looking at Mirajane.

"Sorry." She answered winking and putting her index finger over her lips, "It's a secret."

"Doesn't matter what the test is, I know I'm a shoe in this year." Natsu said looking up determined.

"Why? Because Erza's gonna help you?" Gray commented with a grin.

"No!" Natsu snapped back. "Because, I'm clearly the best in the guild and I should be S-Class. Right?" he stood up from the table and looked down, smiling at his daughter as she looked up at him and cooed.

"As if flame brain." Gray said standing up next to him. "You must dumber than I thought if you think you're stronger than me." The two began glaring at one another.

"You're both idiots. I'm the only one over here good enough to be S-Class." Gajeel said as he stood up and pointed to himself. Natsu and Gray both gave him deadpan looks.

"You just found out what S-Class was a couple of seconds ago." Gray said.

"Yeah, and besides the old man would never let you be S-Class after all the trouble you caused as part of Phantom."

"Hey, that's all in the past!" Gajeel yelled back. "Besides I was just as strong as the Element 4 in Phantom, so basically I'm S-Class already." He smiled satisfied.

"Oh yeah." Gray said looking up. "That means Juvia has a good chance of being S-Class then."

"You making fun of me snowflake?" Gajeel asked angrily as he glared at Gray.

"That was the idea lead foot." Gray retorted glaring back.

"You're all crazy if you think you're gonna make S-Class before me." Elfman said standing up. "Only real men deserve to be S-Class."

"Stay out of this!" Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray yelled in unison.

"The only way you would become S-Class is if you begged Mira." Natsu said.

"Says the guy who had a kid with Titania." Gajeel commented with a smirk.

"Take that back." Natsu said glaring at Gajeel.

"Make me pinko. You got as much of a chance of being S-Class as the streaker does keeping his clothes on for more than 10 seconds."

"You wanna start a fight?" Gray said, neglecting that fact that his shirt had been off for hours. Elfman walked up to the three and they all began arguing loudly with one another, Mirajane nervously looking on.

"Umm, guys?" she said, but they couldn't hear her.

"All you do is destroy property!"

"I'll destroy your property!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"I'll make you make sense!"

"Just stop talking, you're giving me a headache!"

"Guys? Elfman, Gajeel, Gray, Natsu?" Mirajane tried again, but still received no response from the boys arguing and talking over one another.

"Everyone knows you're only in the guild because of Juvia." Gray said to Gajeel. "You're the weakest one out of the four of us."

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel retorted. He turned his hand into his Iron Dragon Club. "I'll show you whose weak!" he swung his arm but Gray ducked, causing Gajeel to hit Natsu in the face. Gray and Elfman began laughing as Natsu shook his fist in anger.

"Dammit, Gajeel!" Natsu swung but do to his impaired vision he hit Gray in the face. This soon devolved into Gray hitting Elfman in the face who in turn struck Gajeel. Soon there was nothing but silence as the four guys stood there with each other's fists in their faces.

Mirajane sighed and shook her head. "Oh dear." She then looked down at Aura who was trying to put the ball in her mouth. "Come on Aura." Mirajane said, taking the ball from the baby girl and picking her up. "Things are about to become a little crazy." Mirajane smiled at her and carried her as she made her way behind the bar. She placed Aura on the bar top, leaning over it herself with her hand under her chin as she waited for the other shoe to drop.

"You bastard!" the four boys yelled in unison as they began brawling in the middle of the guild hall.

Mira sighed but smiled when she saw Aura, who was now sleeping on the bar top. "You're in for one crazy childhood." She said with a smile, as the four man brawl soon grew to encompass the entire guild.

…

* * *

**Here we are, the first official chapter of "7 Years and Counting", as the note at the top said this takes place before the 7 year timeskip. I wanted to establish how Natsu and Erza interact with baby Aura individually before diving fully into the entire family dynamic. This chapter focused on Natsu and his relationship with his daughter. Hope you enjoyed and as always comment with your thoughts and thanks for reading :)**


	3. Growing Up Fast

"HA!" Erza yelled as she cut down the next tree with a swing of her sword. She watched it fall over like the others before switching weapons to a long spear. She maneuvered gracefully, dodging and slashing through the trunks of the many tress that covered the small forest. _I'm still not fast enough._ She thought as she continued running. She almost reached the other side of the clearing until she heard a shrill cry coming from the direction in which she came.

She stopped instantly, sending her spear back to its pocket dimension before requipping from her Heart Kreuz Armor into her white blouse and blue skirt. She emerged from the forest and walked towards a tree in the middle of a small meadow. There at the base of the tree sat a smiling Mirajane, and a crying baby Aura.

Mirajane picked the baby up and handed her to Erza before standing herself. "Hey what's wrong?" Erza cooed to her crying daughter, lightly bouncing her up and down.

"I think she's hungry." Mirajane said as she brushed the grass from her dress.

"Well let's get you something to eat." Erza said to Aura as the three headed into Natsu and Erza's home. Once inside, Erza placed the still crying Aura in her high chair before walking into the kitchen. Mirajane sat at the table and watched as Erza rifled through the cabinets.

"Do you need my help?" Mirajane asked.

"No thank you, I can handle it." Erza replied still searching. "Ah, here we go." She said with a satisfied smile. She found a bushel of bananas in one of the cabinets. She took one and put the others back, but not before taking out a wooden bowl as well. She unpeeled the banana and then mashed it into the bowl, making sure that it was truly soft. She then grabbed a spoon from the counter and walked to the table with the spoon and bowl in hand.

She sat across from Mirajane and held the bowl in her hands. She dipped the spoon in it, scooping some of the banana as she moved the spoon close to Aura. "Come on, here's the sword. Open wide." Erza opened her mouth wider and Aura imitated it, allowing Erza to feed her the banana. Sure enough the baby stopped crying. "There, feel better?" she asked with a smile. She then continued feeding her daughter.

"I don't think you're supposed to feed a baby by telling them the spoon is a sword." Mirajane said nervously.

"You don't have to be here Mirajane." Erza said not looking at the smiling barmaid. "What about the guild?"

"Lisanna is taking care of things for the day." Mirajane replied. "Besides, I figured you and Aura could use some company since Natsu and Happy are still gone." She said smiling at the baby.

"It's been two days. You think they would have been done with the mission by now." Erza said slightly irritated as she finished feeding Aura. She then got up, using Aura's bib to wipe away the excess food from the laughing baby's mouth before sitting back down.

"Aw you miss him." Mirajane teased.

"It's not that I miss him." Erza said. "It's just things are a bit…dull without Natsu home." She blushed slightly. _Home._ She thought to herself, it still made her blush a bit when she said that. "All I've been doing is training and taking care of Aura."

"Da…da…" The baby stammered.

"Yeah, daddy." Erza said to her with a smile.

"Can she talk?" Mirajane asked. "Not yet, but she's trying. Natsu's been trying to get her focused more on walking, I think."

"Really, why?"

"I have no earthly idea, but as long as she can do both I really don't care about the order."

"Have you two talked about what kind of magic she'll use?"

"Not at length. It's still a bit early to be thinking about it, although Natsu believes she'll use Dragon Slayer magic like her future self." Erza looked over to Aura who was now babbling, Erza began smiling again; she found it adorable that Aura wanted to be a part of the conversation.

"You want to be a Dragon Slayer like you dad, huh?" Erza said to the smiling baby as she played about with her hands.

"You don't think she will?" Mirajane asked. "It's certainly a possibility, but if she doesn't, it won't matter. I'm sure she'll have whatever magic she was meant to, Dragon Slayer or not." Erza said. She then smirked a bit. She made have claimed not to care about Aura's magic, but she would be a liar if she said a part of herself would be opposed to Aura inheriting her requip magic.

Aura soon began dozing off, which was no surprise to Mirajane and Erza who thought it was cute. Erza stood up and took Aura out of her high chair.

"Looks like someone is tired." She cradled Aura in her arms and walked towards the baby's room.

"Let's get you to bed. Say goodbye to Mirajane."

"Good night Aura." Mirajane waved with a smile.

Erza walked into Aura's room and placed her in her crib, causing the baby to cry weakly as she fought sleep. "Shhh. Shhh." Erza said trying to calm the 7 month old. "I know, I know you wanted to wait for daddy to come back. Its ok, he'll be home soon. Rest now." She said softly stroking the baby girl's head until she closed her eyes, soon falling asleep. Erza leaned into the crib, kissing Aura on the forehead before walking out of the room and back towards the table.

"She wanted to wait for Natsu?" Mirajane said as Erza sat down across from her.

Erza nodded. "She can't get enough of him." She said with a small smile.

"Neither can you." Mirajane said with a mischievous smirk.

"Hush." Erza said, not realizing that she was blushing slightly. This caused Mirajane to laugh, which also made Erza laugh. Although they managed to keep it down so as not to disturb Aura. Once the laughing subsided, the two looked out the window at the setting sun.

"The S-Class exams are coming up soon." Mirajane said.

"I know." Erza said "I had almost forgotten about it."

"Who do you think the Master will pick this year?" Mirajane asked.

"It's hard to tell, a lot of strong wizards have joined the guild recently and those already in the guild have gotten even stronger."

"Are you going to recommend Natsu?"

Erza shook her head. "There's no need to, if the Master believes Natsu is ready he'll choose him."

Mirajane grinned. "I expected you to say that."

"What about you?" Erza asked. "Are you going to recommend Elfman?"

"Nope, I feel the same way you do. If Master thinks he's ready he'll pick him."

"Do you have any guesses as to who Master will pick?" Erza asked.

"I have some, but like you said it's kind of hard to be concrete about it."

"Well, who do have in mind?"

"Well, If I had to choose…" Mirajane held her hand under her chin to think. "I'd say that both Gray and Natsu are shoo ins, as is Cana."

"Is that it?" Erza asked.

"I'm pretty sure one of the Thunder Legion will be chosen, at the very least so Master can have someone take Laxus' place, most likely Freed. I also believe Lucy has a good chance."Mirajane said.

"You think so too?" Erza said. "She hasn't been in the guild very long, but Lucy certainly has left a mark in Fairy Tail. Although her inexperience may cost her a spot."

"That's true." Mirajane giggled.

"What about Wendy?" "She's still too young." Erza quickly replied.

"You and I weren't that much older than her when we became S-Class." Mirajane pointed out.

"True, but Wendy is still a bit timid when it comes to missions and interacting with people. She just needs a little more time."

Mirajane nodded. "I suppose you're right. What about Gajeel and Juvia? Do you think Master will choose them even though they came from Phantom?"

"If that was an issue he wouldn't have let them join the guild in the first place." Erza said. "Juvia is a very strong wizard and has made herself at home in the guild, but I think her obsession with Gray hinders her potential some. Gajeel on the other hand has made no effort to make friends in the guild. Although, he and Natsu seem to get along well enough."

Mirajane laughed at Erza's explanation. "You think Natsu and Gajeel get along? All they do is bicker and fight."

"It's no different than what Natsu does with Gray." Erza said. "Or like we used to do." Erza smirked at Mirajane.

"Hmm, you're right. Well I guess they do get along." Mirajane said with a smile, laughing a bit.

"No matter who gets chosen this year, the test will prove to be an interesting one." Erza said.

"You're right." Mirajane said with a nod. "Especially now that Gildarts is back."

"I almost forgot about him." Erza said with a smile.

The two talked more about the guild and the S-Class Exam as the sun set. Soon enough Mirajane managed to steer the conversation to a topic that had been on her mind for months.

"Erza I almost forgot to ask, how is being here?" Mirajane asked looking at her.

"What do you mean? Being where?" Erza asked returning her gaze.

"You know, here." She said looking around the house. "How is living together with Natsu?"

"It's…" Erza began looking around the home. She had seen the walls, the kitchen, the doorways, and the windows hundreds of times but this was actually the first time that she actually took everything in. She looked at the walls and decorations with a new vision, each part of the house holding a different memory. There was the scorch next to the fire place from when Natsu had gotten overzealous in heating the house during the winter. The painted picture of Igneel across from the table where Erza and Mirajane sat, Erza claimed that it was to lighten the home but it was actually to cover a hole that Natsu created when he chased Happy after the Exceed laughed at him for Aura throwing up on his vest one day. Even the window the two women looked out of had a story, created from a hole that Erza punched Natsu out of when he tried to sneak up on her one day.

"I've never really thought about it before." She said blushing slightly.

"Ohh?" Mira said lulling.

"Yes." Erza replied quickly. "I've just gotten used to being here with him. I don't think about it much past that." She was lying, but Mirajane chose not to press the issue.

The two continued to talk about trivial things like the state of Magnolia and gossip around the guilds. Time continued to pass and soon Mirajane found herself exiting for the evening.

"I'll see you tomorrow Erza." Mirajane said with a smile.

"Thank you for stopping by and keeping me company Mirajane." Erza replied.

"You're welcome. Try not to stay up too late." Mirajane said winking.

"Goodbye Mirajane." Erza replied serious as Mirajane closed the door behind her. Erza sat at the table and began flooding her mind with random thoughts trying to stay awake but she soon felt her eyelids growing heavy. "No…" she mumbled trying to keep her eyes open. "I have to…stay awake…" she felt her eyelids becoming heavier, the weight being almost too much to bear. "Have to wait…for...Nat-"slowly she faded away, succumbing to slumber.

"ZZZZZZZzzzzZZZzzZ! ZZZZZZZZZzzzzZZzZ!"

Erza instantly opened her eyes, awakened by the frightening sound. _What is that?_ She thought to herself. She sat up and felt something soft under her hands. _Where am I?_ She thought unable to see due to the darkness shrouding her surroundings. She rubbed her palm against the surface she was currently sitting on.

"This feels like the blanket on my bed, but that can't be right. I fell asleep on the table, why would I be in bed?" she slowly reached behind her, trying to get a better understanding of her situation, that horrible grating sound at her back. She soon felt something else soft under her fingers, although not as soft as the bed.

"Mmm." a groan came from whatever she was touching. "Quit it Erza, I'm tryna sleep." A tired whine etched out into the darkness. Erza recognized the voice and her heart jumped a bit.

"Natsu?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." He groaned again. "Who else would I be?" Erza smiled warmly as she moved her hand back to her side.

"When did you return?"

"I don't know." He said rolling over to his side and yawning. "A couple of hours ago I guess."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked slightly irritated. Natsu yawned again.

"I didn't…see you when…I came in. Me and Happy went to Aura's room. She was crying."

"Is she alright?" Erza said quickly, cursing herself in her mind for allowing something like that to happen. "Yeah…She just had a dirty diaper. I changed it. Then I came out and…" he yawned once more, his voice fading the more tired he grew. "Saw you sleeping. I didn't wanna wake you so I brought you in here. Then…I guess I just…fell asleep…next to you." His voice trailed off.

"Well you still should have woke me and told me that you returned." Erza sat and awaited Natsu's response, but she received none. "Natsu?" she called looking over her shoulder. "Natsu?" she called more forcefully shaking him lightly.

"Mmmm, nobody's gonna be S-Class…before me." He mumbled. "I'm the strongest wizard…in Fairy Tail."

Erza smiled softly at his sleep talking. She then laid back down next to Natsu, kissing him on the cheek. "Sweet dreams Natsu." She faced his back as she soon fell asleep.

"You want some too Erza?" Natsu continued to mumble, a small smirk appearing on his face. "Ok…but I'm warning ya, I'm not gonna go easy on you because you're my..." his voice trailed off again and he resumed snoring. Natsu continued to move around in his sleep, but oddly enough this didn't bother Erza. Even stranger, through all of his thrashing, he never touched Erza. It was as if his body subconsciously knew the consequences of waking her prematurely.

In the next room, Aura peacefully slept in her crib, Happy sleeping in his hammock across from her.

The entire home was quiet for the first in what seemed like a long time.

…

"Mama. Mama." Aura repeated as she sat on Natsu's shoulders as they, along with the rest of the guild, looked on at Master Makarov, Erza, Mirajane, and Gildarts on the stage. Erza stood a small distance behind Makarov and smiled a bit as she saw Aura out of the corner of her eye.

"Shhh Aura." Natsu shushed, trying to quiet her. "I can't hear the old man." The 9 month old soon quieted down. Which actually surprised Natsu, she was usually way more of a hassle to calm.

Makarov and the others stood on stage going over the plans of that years S-Class Exam. Due to the battle with Oracion Seis and Erza's pregnancy, Makarov pushed back the exam until everyone had gotten back into the swing of things, although Erza did express displeasure over feeling that he waited too long to get things rolling again.

"Now that you know all of the details, I want all of the announced wizards and their partners assembled at the port in Hargeon in one week. That is all!" After Makarov's announcement everyone returned to their tables and began discussing the exam along with those who were called. Natsu was on his way to join his fellow exam participants, but he was soon stopped by Erza.

"Natsu." She called, causing him to turn around.

"Yeah?" he looked at her wide-eyed as he held Aura's legs which were resting on his shoulders. The 9 month old laughed and pulled his hair, he tried his best to ignore the pain.

"Here." Erza said reaching her hands up to Natsu's head. "Let me take Aura. You should discuss your plans with the others."

Slightly confused, Natsu complied and removed Aura from his shoulders, giving her to Erza. He then fixed his hair and scarf, all the while Erza looking at him with a sincere smile. Natsu then looked at Erza, noticing her expression.

"Uh you ok Erza?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yes I'm fine." She held Aura against her hip, the baby's legs hanging at her sides.

"Mama." Aura cooed.

"I'll see you at home." Erza said. She then turned around and began walking away.

"Uh, ok." Natsu said even more confused.

"Say bye bye to daddy." Erza said to Aura as she kissed her on the forehead.

"Dada." Aura said, waving her small arms at Natsu, who smiled and waved back. He then walked to the tables where the others were sitting.

"What was that about?" Lucy asked Natsu as he sat down next to her.

"What was what about?" Natsu replied.

"You and Erza." She said pointing her thumb in the direction Natsu came from.

"Were you whining to her because you can't partner with an S-Class wizard?" Gray taunted.

"Shut up." Natsu retorted. "Why would I do that when I already have a partner?"

"Who?" Lucy asked.

"Happy of course." Natsu said pointing to the Exceed who was standing on the table.

"Aye!" Happy replied.

"Besides me and Erza didn't talk about anything. She just took Aura and said she'd see me at home."

"She didn't say anything about you being chosen for the exam?" Lisanna asked. Natsu shook his head.

"Nope."Natsu replied.

"That sounds a bit odd." Juvia said.

"She's probably just focused on the exam." Gray said.

"Speaking of which," Lucy began. "What are you guys gonna do about Aura?" she asked looking at Natsu.

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked.

"Well if you and Erza are both going to the island, whose going to watch her?"

"She's not going with us?" Natsu asked. "No she can't go with you dummy! She's a baby! She could get hurt!" Lucy yelled.

"Oh yeah, you're right." Natsu placed his hand under his chin to think. "Hmmm. I don't know. I'm sure Erza will think of something. Worst case I guess I could drop out. Come on Happy, time to train!"

"Aye sir!" Happy exclaimed. The two then raced out of the guild hall and back towards their home.

"Wait, Natsu!" Lucy yelled reaching out her hand.

"Too late Lucy, he's gone." Gray said. Lucy sighed and sat back in her seat.

"You really think Natsu would drop out the Exam?" Wendy asked looking up at Gray.

"I don't know, probably" Gray said crossing his arms. "Even Natsu knows what's more important in the long run. He knows that if he dropped out, there's always next year."

"He sure has grown up a bit in the last few months." Elfman said.

"Well being a father will do that." Lisanna said with a dreamy smile.

"So who's your partner Gray?" Lucy asked changing the topic.

"Why didn't you congratulate him?" Mirajane asked Erza as she sat at the bar, Aura sitting on the bar top. She handed Erza a cup of tea and Aura a bottle of milk.

"There was no need to." Erza said sipping her tea. "I already knew Natsu would qualify for the exam."

"That's not the point." Mirajane said. "You know he admires you. I'm sure acknowledging him for being able to take the exam would have made him happy."

"Perhaps you're right." Erza said sipping her tea again. Mirajane looked over to Aura, who was drinking from the bottle.

"What are you going to do about Aura?"

"Macao agreed to watch over her while we're on Tenrou Island."

"Macao?" Mirajane asked surprised.

"Yes. He already has Romeo so he seemed like the best person to watch her. Should I have picked someone else?"

"No, it's just...don't you think it'll be hard leaving her here while you're gone?"

Erza put down her cup. "Of course it's hard." She said as she rubbed Aura's head and smiled softly.

"I don't want to leave her at all, but the master needs me for this exam. We won't be gone long, a couple of days at the most. Right?" Erza asked smiling at Aura.

"Have you told Natsu?"

"No, I didn't want him to worry about more than what was needed. He should be focused on the exam right now." She resumed drinking her tea.

"I'll tell him later."

"If you think that's best." Mirajane said with a smile, but Erza could tell that Mirajane didn't wholeheartedly agree with how she handled the situation.

Aura crawled over to her sullen mother, and tugged lightly at her hair. "Mama." the baby cooed, causing Mirajane to grin.

Erza snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her daughter's laughing face and soon all of her cares washed away.

"Natsu! Dinner's ready!" Happy yelled as he emerged from their home.

The day had turned to night as the snow fell throughout Magnolia. Natsu, still in his usual clothes, sat atop a rock and looked out at the city, which lit up in the night sky.

"Are you ok?" Happy asked.

"I'm going to do it Happy." Natsu said.

"Do what?" Natsu clenched his fist tightly.

"I'm going to become an S-Class Wizard. I finally get to show Erza how strong I really am. I get to show everybody. I also get to show Aura that her dad is a really strong wizard."

"Aye sir." Happy said.

Natsu hopped down from the rock and headed back home with the Exceed. "You said dinner was ready right? I'm starving."

"You've been training for hours. You must be exhausted."

"Yeah, but all I need is some food to fill my tank. I wonder where Erza and Aura are." Natsu said before he and Happy entered the house.

"Yeah, they should have been home by now." Happy said as Natsu closed the door behind them. Little did they know, that behind a tree a small distance away from the house stood Erza.

She held a sleeping Aura, the baby's head lying on her shoulder, as she rubbed the baby's back. She smiled warmly as she thought of Natsu's words. _Natsu._ She thought. _I really am proud of you._ She then looked over at Aura. _I'm sure Aura is as well._ She then emerged from the trees and walked towards their home.

The week went by in a flash and soon all of the participants in the exam found themselves at Hargeon Port, each of them eagerly awaiting the chance to board the ship to Tenrou Island.

"Do be careful Wendy." Carla said, still worried about the vision she received a week prior.

"Don't worry Carla, I'll be fine." She said with a smile.

"Come on Wendy let's go." Mest said as he walked towards the ship.

"Ok, coming." Wendy said running after him. Carla waving.

"Do *sniff* your best *sniff* Levy." Jet said as tears streamed down his face.

"Yeah *sniff* we know *sniff* you can do it." Droy added, also crying.

"Aww don't cry guys. I'll be back soon." Levy said with a smile trying to comfort them.

"Time to go shrimp." Gajeel said walking past her.

"O-ok." Levy said nervously as she followed him.

"Good luck Levy!" Jet and Droy said in unison as the tears continued to fall.

"Come on guys stop crying." Max said.

"Do your best Gajeel." Pantherlily commented with a smirk, Gajeel giving him a thumbs up.

_I'll be sure to do my best for you…Laxus._ Freed thought as he looked up into the sky, seeing an image of the Thunder wizards face. "Let's go Bixlow." Freed said as they boarded the boat.

"Right behind ya, buddy." Bixlow said with his usual tongue out grin.

"Come on big brother." Lisanna said happily as she pushed Elfman from behind. "Our partners and Mira are already onboard the ship."

"Alright alright I'm going. Quit pushin will ya?" Elfman replied irritated.

"Ready to do this?" Gray asked Loke with a confident grin.

"You know it partner. Let's go make you an S-Class wizard." Loke replied as the two pounded fists and boarded the boat.

Cana and Lucy were the next to board, the former with a distraught look on her face.

"Don't worry Cana." Lucy said with a confident smirk. "I'm gonna make sure you pass the exam."

A small smile appeared on Cana's face. "Thank you Lucy." The two then boarded the ship.

Nearly everyone was now on the boat, except for Natsu and Erza, who were both standing in front of Macao.

"We'll be back soon. So be good for Macao, ok?" Erza said to Aura as she lovingly ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. She then kissed Aura's forehead as the baby began to tear up in Macao's arms.

"Mommy and Daddy love you very much." Erza said to Aura before looking up at Macao, giving him a stare that would stop a charging army in its tracks. "If anything happens to her Macao, you will answer to me."

"D-d-don't worry about a thing Erza. We'll take good care of her, right Romeo?" he said frightened as he looked down at his son, who was standing right next to him. Romeo nodded with a smile. "Yeah, you got nothin to worry about."

"I'm glad to hear it." Erza said returning Romeo's smile.

"Time to depart Natsu." Erza said as she turned around and walked towards the boat.

"Alright." Natsu said, his words a bit sad as he followed Erza. "Just wait Aura. Daddy's gonna become an S-Class wizard." He said waving back.

Aura, watching her parents leave, let out a sad, shrill cry; one that both Natsu and Erza felt stab their hearts. Despite the pain, the pair boarded the boat, believing in their hearts that they would return home soon.

_**7 Years**_** Later**

"Are they coming home today?" A young girl asked as she stood overlooking the port of Hargeon, the crisp sea breeze blowing through her shoulder length pink hair.

"I don't know." A young man, not too much older than her answered as he watched the winds blow through the water, his determined gaze seemingly cutting a path through the mighty waves. "But we'll come here every day until they do."

…

* * *

**Here is the next chapter. Sorry if its a bit sloppy, I suck at writing children lol. Anyway as always thanks for reading and let me know what you think :).**


	4. Memoirs of a Family

"Aura…Aura." Romeo said shaking the small girl. "Dad said it's time to get up."

"I don't want to." The young girl answered lazily. "I want to sleep."

"Well too bad." Romeo grabbed the blanket and removed it from the bed altogether, leaving the 6 year old with nowhere to hide. "Time to get up."

The young girl groaned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her pink hair tossed about in all directions as she yawned. "You're mean Romeo." She said sticking out her tongue at him.

"That's what big brothers are, mean." He replied. "Now go on, hurry up and get ready." He ordered, pointing towards the door of her room.

"Ok." She said still tired as she walked out of her room and towards the bathroom.

…

Aura Robin Dragneel, the daughter of Fairy Tail wizards Natsu Dragneel and Erza Scarlet. She is 6 years old, and has already decided at such a young age that she is not a morning person.

…

"I see sleeping beauty is finally awake." Macao said with a smirk as he watched Aura and Romeo walk to and sit at the breakfast table. "Good morning you two."

"Morning Dad." Romeo replied.

Aura yawned one last time. "Good morning Papa Macao."

"So what's the plan today, dad?" Romeo asked.

"Well you've gotta go to school, kid." Macao replied as he walked to the table, sitting down across from his son. "Aura and I are going to the guild hall."

"Do I have to go to school?" Romeo whined. "Mr. Totomaru is so boring. Why can't you teach me how to control my magic?"

"Because I have guild master duties." Macao replied sipping from his mug of coffee. "Besides Totomaru is more adept at fire magic than I am, you'll learn more from him than you would from me."

Romeo sat back in his chair and sulked. "I wish Natsu was still here, he'd teach me."

"Romeo." Macao said sternly. Romeo looked up at his father, noticing his eyes were shifting towards Aura. Romeo's own eyes widened in realization.

"Oh crap. Sorry Aura." He apologized placing his hands together as if he were praying.

"It's ok." She replied with a smile. "It's not like I remember what my real dad looks like anyway."

Macao and Romeo looked at one another before looking back at Aura with hollow, sullen smiles. They knew that she was lying.

…

Raised under the watchful eye of Fairy Tail's guild master, Macao Conbolt, ever since she was 9 months old; Aura grew up without much memory of her parents. If any comments about them did affect her, she didn't actively know about it.

…

The three walked the streets of Magnolia, eventually reaching the crossroads in the middle of the marketplace.

"Well I'm off to school." Romeo said taking the left path. "I'll see you guys at the guild hall later." He ran off, waving at them before turning around.

Macao and Aura waved back for a little bit before going their own way, taking the right path towards the Fairy Tail guild hall.

"Papa Macao…" Aura said looking down at the ground.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think my mommy and daddy are gonna come home?" she asked still looking at the ground.

Macao's eyes softened as he continued looking ahead of him. It was rare for Aura to ask about Natsu and Erza, but whenever she did Macao was never prepared for it.

He sighed as he thought of the best thing to say. "I'm sure they will." He said with a smile, trying to get the young girls mind off the topic as soon as possible. "It's just taking them a while to get back."

"Really?" she asked looking up at him, a glimmer of hope in her eye.

"Really." Macao replied with another fake smile.

"Ok." Aura said, a slightly despondent look on her face but she seemed otherwise pacified for the moment. "Romeo always goes to that place where the ships are before he comes home. Why?"

"I don't know." Macao said. He knew exactly why Romeo ventured to the Hargeon Port, but he kept quiet as to avoid further worrying Aura.

The two entered the guild hall a few minutes later, Fairy Tail's now meager number of members greeting them with smiles.

"Hey everyone." Macao said.

"Hey Master." Max replied before looking down. "Hey Aura." He said with a smile.

"Hi Max." she returned.

"Morning little lady." Wakaba said with a grin.

"Hi Mr. Wakaba." Aura replied.

"Good morning Master." Kinana said with a smile as she cleaned glasses behind the bar.

"Morning Kinana." Macao said waving.

"Hi Kina!" Aura yelled with a smile, causing the barmaid to look down at the bar at her.

"Oh, good morning Aura. I didn't see you there." Kinana returned with a smile. She thought it was adorable how Aura would become tongue tied when she said her full name, So Kinana let her shorten it. Although, Aura is the only person who can call her Kina.

Others besides Aura who called her by that moniker faced dire consequences, like Max; although he preferred not to talk about what happened that day.

"Aura!" a small voice called from the other side of the guild hall. From behind one of the tables ran a small girl, the same age as Aura give or take a few months. Atop her head was an orange cowboy hat, her dark green hair flowing behind her as her toy gun flapped about in the holster on her waist. She jumped onto Aura, hugging her neck.

"Hi Asuka." Aura said a bit uncomfortable that she was suddenly embraced, but she was still happy to see her friend.

…

Asuka Connell, the 6 year old daughter of Fairy Tail wizards Alzack and Bisca Connell, and Aura's de facto best friend. Asuka was born a year after the Tenrou team disappeared and was always a happy child, she was also the first person to crack through Aura's hardened exterior when they were both still toddlers.

Aura would always act out when she was younger due to being left by her parents, but for reasons still unknown to guild, Asuka and Aura became fast friends upon meeting each other. Perhaps that mystery will only be known to those two girls until the end of time.

…

"She's been talking about you nonstop." Alzack said as he Bisca walked up to the two girls.

"Yep, she's been waiting for you all morning." Bisca said with a smile.

"Really?" Aura said looking at Asuka, who simply smiled and nodded. Aura smiled wide showing her teeth. Alzack, Bisca, Kinana, and Macao smiled warmly at the sight, she looked just like Natsu.

"Aura is here?!" another voice yelled, however instead of surprise, this voice sent a shiver up the small girl's spine. She quickly ducked behind Macao, confusing Asuka.

"Where is she?" a woman said as she walked over to Macao. She had wavy dirty blonde hair that stopped just above her shoulders. She was sporting an orange tank top which contrasted sharply with her navy blue cargo jeans and brown flats, and a black Fairy Tail mark was emblazoned just above her left breast. She also wore blissful smile as she looked at Macao.

"Right here." Macao said sidestepping, revealing the frightened Aura. "Don't be rude Aura." Macao whispered.

"Hello Aura." The woman cooed as she bent over, placing her hands on her knees.

She stood up, nervously twisting the point of her shoe into the guild hall floor. "Hi Alana."

…

Alana Engel, the 17 year old heiress of the prestigious Engel family from Lumina, and as of today has been a Fairy Tail wizard for 3 years. Coincidentally, she is also the only person who has joined the guild in that time frame.

Specializing in light make magic, she can create "hard light" constructs in any form she wants. Coupled with her nearly boundless imagination, she is quite the formidable wizard.

…

"I told you, call me big sister." Alana said still smiling.

"A-Alana…onee-san." Aura said hesitantly. Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her as Alana grabbed her and held her in the air, clasping her tightly against her chest for a hug.

"Aww, you are so precious Aura." She squealed as she held the young girl.

"T-Thank you." Aura replied as her face squished against Alana's ample bust.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Alana said in realization as she put Aura down. "I bought you the cutest dress while out on a job yesterday." She said with a smile. "But I left it in my apartment. Don't go anywhere." Alana then rushed out of the guild hall, much to Aura's relief.

Macao and Wakaba laughed. "Well looks like Asuka wasn't the only one anxious to see you." Macao said.

"She scares me." Aura said still shaking a bit.

"Aw, don't be like that." Macao said. "She's just a bit affectionate when it comes to you is all."

Aura pouted some until she felt Asuka tugging at her shirt. "Let's go play outside Aura." She said with a smile as she pointed to a door just past the bar.

"Ok." Aura nodded as she followed behind her friend.

"Don't go far you two." Bisca called to them.

"We won't." Asuka replied as she and Aura moved on.

As the two girls drew closer to the door, Aura suddenly stopped just before passing the bar. She turned her body, facing one of the support pillars. Her focus then was shifted from Asuka, to a picture on the pillar, hanging a small distance above her.

It was a picture Reedus drew of the Fairy Tail guild seven years ago, including all those lost on Tenrou Island.

"Aura?" Kinana asked concerned as she looked over at the young girl. "Aura what's wrong?"

"Kinana." Macao called. She looked over to him and he shook his head, signaling her to leave the situation alone. Kinana reluctantly backed off.

Aura could never fully explain why, but she always stopped to look at this picture whenever she came across it. Perhaps it was to remind herself of what her real parents looked like, that way she would be prepared if they ever came back.

She rose her arm slowly, extending her index finger towards the picture just as she had done many times before. Moving her finger across the length of it, she stopped when her lone digit fell upon a young woman with beautiful, long scarlet hair. It covered one of her equally stunning brown eyes as she stood adorned in a grey armor top and blue skirt, a smirk across her face. On the front of the armor was a gold cross with the Fairy Tail emblem underneath it. Her stance was firm, but at the same time soft. Exuding an air of both strength and compassion.

"Mommy." Aura said low before moving her finger across the picture again.

This time it stopped on a young man, not much younger than the woman from earlier. He was crouching next to a young blonde girl as his hair, which was a bright shade of pink, stood out in contrast with his black and gold vest and white scaly scarf that wrapped neatly around his neck. He gave the thumbs up, smiling wide and showing his uniquely sharp teeth as a blue cat with wings floated next to him.

"Daddy." Aura once again spoke low. It was almost as if she was entranced by the picture, blocking out everything else around her as she burned the images of the two people she pointed to into her mind.

"Aura?" Asuka said, breaking her out of her hypnotic state.

"Huh?" Aura said returning to her senses. She looked at Asuka, noticing the worried look on her friends face. "What's wrong? You don't want to play?" Aura asked, completely unaware of the last few seconds that just passed.

"You miss your mama and papa don't you?" Asuka asked.

"What?" Aura asked confused.

"You were looking at the picture again." She said pointing up at said picture. "You miss them right?" Asuka asked again.

Aura grew silent.

"Aura! I…" Alana ran back into the guild hall, a bag hanging off her shoulder, but she was soon halted when Macao held his arm in front of her. "Master what's…" she began but soon understood the situation when she saw where Aura and Asuka were standing.

"Oh." She said sullenly, lowering the bag to the ground. "She looked at the picture again?" Alana asked, Macao nodding in affirmation. "Poor girl." Alana said sadly.

"We don't have to play today." Asuka said. "We can stay inside.'

"No." Aura said shaking her head. "Let's go outside." She then grabbed Asuka's hand, much to the girl's surprise, and ran outside.

"Well it seems like she's getting better." Alana said with a warm smile. "She used to just stand in front of that picture for hours."

"She asked about them today." Macao said.

"Natsu and Erza?" Alzack asked.

Macao nodded in confirmation. "It's been a few months since she's done that."

"Why did she suddenly bring them up?" Bisca asked.

"I think it's because of Romeo." Macao answered.

"Ah, yeah." Alzack said. "He's always standing at the port isn't he?"

"Yeah." Macao said a bit despondent. "He goes there almost every day, I think he's waiting for the others return. Honestly…" Macao said scratching the back of his head. "I don't know what I'm going to do with that boy."

"What about Aura?" Alana asked. "How is she taking it?"

"She says she doesn't mind, but I know she's lying. She's trying to be strong, but there's only so much a girl her age can manage. I think she gets that from Erza."

All of the adults soon had saddened looks on their faces as they thought about the friends, the family, they lost on Tenrou Island all those years ago. It was hard for all of them, their trusted friends and guild mates, even their Master, gone in a flash and presumed dead. They wanted to believe that they were still alive, but with each passing day that faith was tested. Waning in the winds just like the once proud reputation of the Fairy Tail guild.

"Master Macao?" Asuka said as she and Aura approached the table where Macao, Alzack, Bisca, and Alana were sitting. They all looked down at the two girls, they were holding hands but Aura was nervously looking at the floor, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"What's wrong Asuka?" Bisca asked her daughter.

"Aura doesn't feel good." Asuka said. "She said she wants to go home."

"Ok, well let me just grab a few things and we can go back to…"

"No." Aura said cutting Macao off. "I want to go _home_." She inflected the last word, and soon enough everyone knew what she really meant. She didn't want to go back to Macao's home, she desired to go to her real home, the home that Natsu and Erza had built together all those years ago.

Macao kneeled down in front of her, "Are you sure?" he asked. Aura nodded slowly. "Alright then." He said standing back up. "Let's go." He said with a smile as he extended his hand towards her.

"Really?" Aura said, her eyes lighting up.

Macao nodded, "Yep, let's go kiddo."

"Ok." She nodded, grabbing his hand.

"I wanna go too." Asuka said as she held onto Aura's other hand, making a nice human chain that caused both girls to smile.

"I'll go with them." Bisca said walking behind the trio. "Who knows what kind of trouble those girls will get in if Macao lets them." She said with a smirk.

"Hey." Macao said offended.

"Hurry up mama." Asuka said looking back at Bisca.

"Alright alright, I'm coming. Hold your horses." Bisca replied as she jogged to catch up. "We'll be back soon Al." Bisca said waving to her husband who waved back with a smile.

"I'll go to." Alana said standing up. "I always wanted to know what house they all lived in."

"Wakaba." Macao called as they exited the guild hall, "You're in charge till I get back."

"You got it." Wakaba said giving the thumbs up.

"Be careful." Kinana called as the guild doors closed.

A few minutes later, the group had soon made their way to the outskirts of Magnolia, taking a small path lined with trees. Macao led the group, Aura holding his hand as Asuka held hers; Alana and Bisca following close behind.

"Do you know where you're going Macao?" Bisca asked a bit skeptical as she stepped over a tree root.

"Yeah I picked Romeo up from Natsu's place one time after I came back from a job. It should be around here…somewhere." Macao answered, his voice trailing off as he looked around for some sort of path.

_He's totally lost._ Bisca thought.

Eventually the group reached a clearing. Stepping out from the trees, they spotted a tangle of vines covering what looked to be an average sized home.

"Is that it?" Alana asked.

"I don't know." Macao said. He looked along the outline of the home. Eventually his eyes fell to a small sign, also covered in vines, but the letter N could be seen on it. "What's this?" He walked over to the sign, using his flame magic to slowly singe away some of the vines and reveal the words on the sign. When he was finished he smirked satisfied. "Well Aura," he said looking back at the young girl. "Looks like we made it."

Aura walked up to the sign, her eyes widening and a smile appearing on her face as she read the words aloud. "Natsu, Erza, Aura, & Happy's Home."

"Welcome home kiddo." Macao said with a smile.

"Let's go in mama." Asuka said excitedly.

"Hold on Asuka." Bisca said, calming her down. "It's Aura's house. We have to ask if it's ok with her first." She explained.

"Ok." Asuka said. She then walked over to Aura. "Can we go inside your house Aura?" Asuka asked.

Aura looked back at her friend and nodded. "Yes, you can go in."

"Yay!" Asuka yelled. "Come on let's go." She grabbed Aura's hand and ran towards the house.

"Hold on you two!" Macao yelled after them. "We have to clear those vines first." He said running after them.

"They're certainly full of energy." Alana said with a smile.

"Well they are both still young." Bisca said smiling back.

Macao, Aura, and Asuka stood in front of the vine covered abode, the Fairy Tail guild master trying to catch his breath from running.

"Are you ok Papa Macao?" Aura asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine. Just…need…to catch my breath." He said regaining his bearings.

"It's because he's old." Asuka said giggling.

"Hey, I'm not that old yet." Macao retorted, he then looked back at the house. "Now let's see what we can do about these overgrown weeds."

Macao extended his index and middle fingers and soon a purple flame emerged from their tips. He then sent it forward, scorching the vines away and revealing the house underneath.

Macao grabbed the door handle, slowly pushing it open as the rusty hinges creaked loudly; the loud noise caused Aura and Asuka to cover their ears. Bisca and Alana soon caught up with the three.

The five then stepped into the home, taking in all of its atmosphere as the sun shined through the window in the left wall. Aura stood amazed as she absorbed everything into herself. It felt right being here, it felt warm.

"Well this place has certainly seen better days." Macao said wiping his finger on the dust covered table in the kitchen.

"I like it." Alana said walking around. "It has a rustic appeal to it."

"You and I have totally different views on what rustic is." Bisca said to Alana as she surveyed the kitchen with Macao.

"Wow." Asuka said looking around. "Your house is pretty, Aura."

Aura soon walked over to two closed doors on the opposite end of the big window.

"Where do those go?" Asuka asked as he stood next to Aura.

"I don't know." Aura answered. She reached for the door on the right, turning the knob slowly as the door creaked open. Inside was a large bed, a closet, and a shelf with various knick knacks and items arranged on it.

Bisca, Macao, and Alana walked up to the doors as the two young girls entered the room.

"This must be Natsu and Erza's room." Macao said, stepping inside.

"That's a pretty big bed." Bisca said impressed, although there was a faint hint of jealousy in her voice. "Mine and Al's would make up almost two of those."

"What's this?" Alana said looking at the shelf. She scanned over the items, reading the little signs in front of each of them.

_Maid uniform from Lucy's job._

_Piece of the Jupiter Cannon._

_Coin from Lumina Casino._

_Lacrima from Tower of Heaven._

_Ur Water, DON'T DRINK!_

"What are these?" Alana asked as she continued to survey the shelf.

"Those are souvenirs from the jobs Natsu's been on." Macao said. "Don't break them."

"Calm down Master, I won't touch anything." Alana said reassuring him. She continued scanning the shelf, eventually coming across a picture of what looked like Fairy Tail from seven years ago, although their outfits were radically different and some of the guild mates were in odd poses: Lucy held a cowering Natsu in a headlock, A scantily clad Juvia pushed away a heavily clothed Gray, Cana was in a very modest dress with a sun hat, Wendy was much older in more ways than one, and various other anomalies; but the most peculiar thing was that Erza, Master Makarov, Gajeel, and the cats were nowhere to be seen. Alana read the sign under the picture aloud. "Edolas Fairy Tail." she looked at the sign again. "Edolas?"

"You done in there Alana?" Macao called, catching the young woman's attention Alana looked around and soon noticed she was the only one still in the room.

"Coming." she called as she stepped out of the room and rejoined the others, who were standing in front of the next closed door.

"What was the hold up in there?" Macao asked.

"Nothing, I just saw this odd picture on the shelf." she explained. "What's 'Edolas Fairy Tail'?" she asked.

"Well, it's kind of a long story." Macao said. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Ok." Alana said.

Aura turned the knob and opened the door. As she looked inside her little heart skipped a beat. Inside was a well-crafted wooden crib, a book shelf with quite the collection of children's literature on it, and a rocking chair. Painted on the walls were Dragons and various weapons of all types and sizes. A hammock was hanging from the ceiling, a small shelf hanging under it, with a carving atop it that read: **_Aura_**

"I think this is your room, Aura." Alana said with a smile as the young girl walked inside.

"Your room is so cool, Aura." Asuka said amazed as she looked around.

Aura walked around the room, smiling softly as she looked at all of her baby possessions. She tried to reach for the dusted picture frame on the shelf but she was too short.

Noticing her plight, Macao grabbed the picture for her and brought it down. "Here." He said with a smile as he handed it to her.

"Thank you Papa Macao." She said as she rubbed her hands on the frame. Her eyes widened when she saw the picture underneath. It was a small painting, obviously done by Reedus, which depicted her family. Natsu smiling his usual toothy grin as Happy flew next to him, and in the center was Erza, smiling warmly as she cradled baby Aura in her arms. A couple of tears flowed out of Aura's eyes.

"Are you ok?" Macao asked concerned as Aura wiped away her own tears.

"Yes." She replied nodding. "Papa Macao, can we clean up?" she asked, slightly surprising Macao and the others. "The house should be clean for when Mommy and Daddy get back, right?" she asked looking up him, her brown eyes glimmering.

Macao gave her a soft smile. "Yeah, you're right." He then looked at the others. "Anybody up for some house cleaning?"

"I am!" Asuka shouted raising her hand.

Bisca nodded. "Sure, sounds like fun."

"If that's what Aura wants how can I say no?" Alana said with a smile.

"Then let's get to cleaning." Macao said raising his fist. Soon enough everyone was tidying up Natsu and Erza's home. They threw away trash, ran out critters, and dusted everything down. Alana tripped over one of Natsu's shirts and fell on her butt, causing the others to laugh at her embarrassment. She wanted to scold them, but once she saw the happy look on Aura's face she softened, eventually laughing herself.

After a few hours, the entire house was spotless, as if it had just been built. Everyone stood in the main area nearly covered in dust, but nonetheless satisfied in their work.

"Achoo!" Alana sneezed.

"Bless You." Bisca said.

"Thank you."

"Well we should probably be heading back to guild hall now." Macao said stretching.

"Why? You're back starting to hurt?" Bisca teased.

"Shut up." Macao replied. "I'm not that old. Let's go." Macao walked towards the door, Alana, Bisca, and Asuka following him, but they soon stopped just outside when they noticed Aura wasn't with them.

"Where's Aura?" Asuka asked.

Macao turned around and saw that Aura was still standing in the house, her hands tightly clutching the picture from her room. "Hey." He said grabbing her attention. "It's time to go back."

Aura looked down sadly as she walked out. She didn't want to leave the home, it was hers after all, but she knew it would be dangerous to be there by herself. "Can I keep this?" she asked holding the picture up to Macao.

"What are you asking me for?" he said with a grin. "It's your picture, right? That means it shouldn't matter what I say. If you wanna keep it, keep it."

Aura smiled and nodded. "Ok." She said. "I'll take it."

"Atta girl." Macao said. "Now come on." He said reaching out his hand. "I'm sure Romeo's waiting for us back at the guild."

Aura grabbed Macao's hand and walked beside him as the group headed back to the guild hall. "Thank you Papa Macao." Aura said.

"No need to thank me. Anytime you wanna come back just let me know." He said with a smile.

"Ok." She said nodding. Aura then looked down at the picture, and noticed something that she missed on her last look. There on her mother's right forearm, her father's left, was a mark that was clearly not the Fairy Tail guild mark. It showed a red dragon, spiraling around two black crossed axes. Aura smiled, the upper left side of her back tingling as she looked at the marks.

…

* * *

**Finally got this chapter up. I chose to focus on Aura and some of the changes that happened to Fairy Tail in the timeskip. Hopefully this chapter came out well, went through more than a few revisions lol. As always, let me know what you think and thanks for reading. :)**


	5. Return

"Why do I always have to be the bad guy?" Aura complained to Asuka as she held the small black domino mask she was given.

"Because I'm the good guy." Asuka said simply, pulling out her toy guns.

"Fine." Aura pouted as she put the mask on. "You'll never catch me alive!" she shouted fiercely and suddenly, the mask having instantly changed her personality as she pulled out her own toy gun. She soon began running, holding the gun behind her as she squeezed the trigger and made shooting sounds.

"Come back here villain!" Asuka yelled after her as she chased Aura around the guild hall, also pulling out her guns and making sound effects.

"There they go again." Kinana said with a smile as she handed Max his drink at the bar.

"Thanks." Max said, soon turning his attention to the two young girls. "They just woke up from a nap and they have that much energy? I wish I was that young again." He sipped from his mug.

"Speaking of young, where's Romeo?" Alana asked looking around the guild as she walked towards the bar. "Alzack and Bisca should have brought him back by now."

Macao slammed his mug of beer on the table. "They're probably somewhere making out." He said irritated. "They need to hurry up and get back here."

"Calm down old man." Wakaba said grinning. "You're gonna give yourself an ulcer."

"You're just as old as me, ya jerk." Macao said glaring. "And I didn't I tell you to call me Master?"

"Yeah, like that's ever going to happen." Wakaba said glaring back.

"Anyway," Max said changing the subject. "It's actually rare that there is a job that requires three people. Not many people come through the guild anymore. We keep losing members left and right."

"Its cause our guild is so weak now." Warren said.

"Yeah, just look at the job board." Nab said as he slammed his palm against it. "There's nothing good on it."

"You barely go on jobs as is." Alana said with a smile. Nab sulked his shoulders in embarrassment.

"And the last person to join the guild was Alana." Warren said pointing back at the young girl, who looked back and smiled.

"I got you now!" Asuka yelled as she continued to chase Aura, accidently bumping the table where Jet and Droy were sitting.

"Hey watch it! I'm tryna eat!" Droy yelled, but the girls were already gone.

"Maybe that was a sign." Laki teased as she walked up to the pair.

"You callin me fat?" Droy asked offended.

"Only if you're denying it." Jet commented.

"Hey I've packed on tons of muscle." Droy said. "You just can't see it."

"Or it doesn't exist." Jet said.

"Shut your mouth." Droy said as he put another piece of meat in his mouth. "You're just jealous."

Jet shook his head. "What if Levy were here now?"

"Well she's not, ok?!" Droy yelled angrily.

Aura and Asuka stopped playing when they noticed the distraught and saddened looks on the adult's faces due to Droy's words. They walked up to Macao, Aura pulling on his shirt. "What's wrong Papa Macao?" she asked, her brown eyes looking up innocently.

Macao put on a small smile, rubbing the top of her head. "Don't worry about it, it's just…" Suddenly the guild hall doors swung open, startling everyone.

"Look what we have here guys!" a booming voice called into the guild hall, putting everyone even more on edge.

In walked five men, each of them with scary looks on their faces as they trudged forward into the guild hall. Their leader, a medium sized man with a spiked bat tied to his back, walked forward. "It's Fiore's weakest guild." He said with a cocky smirk as his entourage laughed.

"They got no drive boss." One of his men said snickering. "That's why they're so weak."

"Papa Macao?" Aura said afraid as Macao pushed her and Asuka behind him and stood up from his table.

"What do you want Thiabault?" Wakaba asked the leader of the group.

"Whoa now." Thiabault replied feigning fear. "Looks like someone forgot that Twilight Ogre runs things around here now." He continued smirking evilly. "We're the big dogs around here, which means we ask the questions."

"Just because you have more members and a bigger guild hall?" Max asked defiantly. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, you guys don't have the heart of a true guild." Warren added.

"Yeah well, look what having 'heart' did to you guys." Thiabault said looking around at the rundown guild hall and laughing. "So if it's all the same to you, we're just fine without it."

"Why are you here?" Macao asked, his voice hardening.

"We're here to collect your pay for the month."

"You didn't pay, Macao?" Wakaba whispered slightly disappointed in his friend.

"I told you to call me master!" Macao yelled.

"You guys are more than a little behind." One of Thiabault's men pointed out.

"It's not our fault." Nab protested. "No good jobs have been coming in."

"That's not our problem. You're lucky we were generous to let you stay in business in the first place." Thiabault retorted.

"Yeah, if we knew how much you were gonna screw us over we would have rather closed down." Jet said.

"Quiet Jet." Macao said standing in front of him.

"But…" Jet began but Macao shook his head, discouraging him from further action.

"I'm scared Papa Macao." Aura said shaking as she and Asuka held onto Macao's pant legs.

"Don't worry you two, we'll be fine." Macao said comforting them.

"Well?" Thiabault said. "I don't have all day."

"Just wait until the end of next month and you'll have your money." Macao said narrowing his gaze. Thiabault returned his gaze for a moment, walking up to Macao before kicking him into nearby a table.

"Macao!" Wakaba yelled.

"Master!" Laki yelled out after.

"You Jerk!" Alana called out, readying herself to use her magic.

"Papa Macao!" Aura yelled trying to run to him.

"Stay back Aura!" Macao yelled, the young girl freezing in her tracks. "And everybody else, don't touch them!" The Fairy Tail members reluctantly backed off, choosing to heed their master's order rather than incite a full scale brawl.

Thiabault and his men began laughing uproariously. "This is the great Fairy Tail?" Thiabault mocked.

"I don't know how they managed to be the top guild for so long." One of his men mocked through his laughter.

"Yeah they totally suck." Another one added. Soon, the five members of Twilight Ogre began drinking the Fairy Tail guild's drinks and vandalizing their guild hall. The members of the Fairy Tail guild could only stand back and watch the carnage, as Macao refused to allow them to take action. They wanted to strike back with everything they had, but they were powerless, their pride shattered in the face of Twilight Ogre's insults and disrespect.

"Remember…one month." Thiabault said. "Come on boys." He said waving his men to him as they filed outside of the guild hall.

Macao remained sitting on the floor, surveying the destruction along with the rest of the guild. Slowly all of their attention shifted to pages that were falling out of Reedus' sketchbook, all of them from seven years ago. Their collective eyes began to water as they thought back on those happy days, long gone and reduced to bittersweet memories. Their happiness now replaced with overwhelming shame and regret.

"7 years huh?" Wakaba said as he blew out smoke from his cigar. "Hard to believe it's been that long."

Aura grabbed the picture of Team Natsu and looked at it, rubbing her fingers across the faces of Natsu and Erza.

"The good ole days." Max said with a sad smile.

"Nothing's been the same since then." Warren said as tears continued streaming down his face.

"I can only take your word for it." Alana said, a small smile on her face as she began picking things up. She looked over to Aura who was still staring at the picture of Team Natsu.

"You believe that story the council told?" Droy asked.

"They have no reason to lie about it." Nab answered. "Besides when we went there, there was nothing."

"Yeah, you're right." Jet said. "Nothing but water."

"I'm still not over it." Laki said with a sad smile.

"I don't think any of us are." Macao said slowly standing up.

Suddenly they heard a loud rumbling coming from above them.

"What's that?" Wakaba asked confused.

"Is Ogre coming back for another round?" Jet asked.

"I don't think so." Droy said.

All of them ran outside of the guild hall and looked up. There, floating high above them was the Blue Pegasus guild's air ship, Christine.

"That's the Christine?" Alana asked astonished. "I've only ever seen it in Sorcerer Weekly."

"What's it doing here?" Nab asked.

Aura and Asuka both looked up in amazement at the sight.

"Mannnn!" a voiced cried out from the ship, which was somehow getting louder and louder.

"What is that?" Max asked confusion, squinting to see. "Someone's falling from the ship!" he yelled, his eyes widening as he pointed into the sky at the object in freefall.

Suddenly the object crashed into the ground with frightening impact. Everyone covered their eyes from the dust, looking back at the small crater that appeared once said dust had settled. Everyone's eyes then widened in surprise when they saw that Ichiya from Blue Pegasus was lying on his side in the crater.

"No need to fret Fairy Tail." He said pointing towards them. "Ichiya is here."

"We share your excitement Master Ichiya." A voice said, this one more soothing than Ichiya's. "But it helps to not be so overzealous."

"We could have floated down with my wind magic." An irritated voice said.

"Hi everyone." A third voice could be heard next, this one softer than the previous three.

The three men landed on the ground softly, revealing themselves to be Blue Pegasus' famous Tri-mens: Hibiki, Ren, and Eve.

"Why is Blue Pegasus here?" Jet asked on edge, worried about another attack.

"Ms. Laki, you are as beautiful as ever." Hibiki said as he stroked the lavender headed girl's hair.

"Oh, ummm, thank you." She said nervously.

"Well they are as lively as ever." Alana said with a smile, not noticing that Eve was next to her. "Eeep!" she squealed startled.

"You're looking well Ms. Alana." Eve said bowing. "You make me nervous just being around you. Did you change your hair recently?"

"T-thank you." Alana said as she looked away blushing. "And…y-yes I did." She said running her fingers through her wavy hair nervously.

"You two are going to be gorgeous when you grow up." Ren said as he knelt down in front Aura and Asuka who both gave him confused looks.

"Could you guys quit flirting and tells us why you're here." Max said deadpan.

"Stop that right now men!" Ichiya yelled, having rose to his feet.

"Yes Sir Ichiya!" the Tri-mens said in unison as they stood at attention. "Please forgive us!"

"Why are you here?" Warren asked.

"We've done it!" Ichiya said, dusting himself off and walking out of the crater.

"Done what?" Alana asked.

"After finishing collecting all of the data with my archive…" Hibiki began. "We've been using Christina to travel to places with the highest concentrations of ethernano."

"Which means what?" Macao asked completely lost.

"Tenrou Island still exists." Ichiya said emphatically.

All of Fairy Tail's members stood in shock at the news. Ichiya and the Tri-mens stood confused at the group's collective silence as it began to border on unsettling.

"Um, did you hear me?" Ichiya asked the still silent wizards. "I said we've found-"

"Are you serious?!" Fairy Tail yelled in unison, frightening the Blue Pegasus members. "You really found them?!"

"We gotta go get them!" Jet yelled excitedly, everyone nodding in agreement.

"Y-yes, well we haven't _found_ them exactly." Ichiya clarified as he reset himself. "We've only found a high concentration of ethernano where Tenrou Island once stood."

"There's no real guarantee that they are still on the island, or if it's even still there." Hibiki told the group. "Do you still want to chance searching?"

The members of Fairy Tail all looked around at one another and thought about their options. Eventually they all gained determined looks on their faces, silently nodding at one another.

"Of course we're gonna risk it." Macao said stepping forward.

"They're our guild mates after all." Wakaba said grinning. "What would it say about Fairy Tail if we just left our friends in the cold without searching for them?"

The Tri-mens and Ichiya all looked at the wizard's confident looks, each one warming their heart. "I was hoping you would say that." Ichiya said smiling and nodding. "Just what I would expect from my honey's guild."

All of the Fairy Tail members laughed nervously at Ichiya's statement. _I guess he didn't get the memo._ They all thought in unison as they all, Asuka included, looked back at a confused Aura.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing sweetie, don't worry about it." Alana said with a slightly nervous, confusing Aura even more.

"Here are the coordinates of the concentration." Hibiki said, handing Macao a folded piece of paper. He and his group then flew back to the Christina using Ren's wind magic. "Good luck Fairy Tail." Hibiki said waving. "Until we meet again."

The members of Fairy Tail waved back, watching as the Christine took off; its destination being the Blue Pegasus guild hall. Once they were out of sight, the Fairy Tail members crowded around Macao, who was still holding the piece of paper.

"You think they were really telling the truth about Tenrou Island still existing?" Jet asked looking at the paper.

"I don't think they would have a reason to lie." Max said. "We've always been on good terms with Blue Pegasus."

"In the end it's your call Macao." Wakaba said.

"What do we do Master?" Laki asked looking at Macao.

Macao clenched his fist and looked forward. "We wait for Romeo and the others to return, then we're going to check it out." He said confidently, causing everyone else to smile and nod determined.

…

A few hours later, a small group consisting of Alana, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren, Alzack, and Bisca found themselves on a boat heading towards the coordinates given to them by Blue Pegasus.

"Are you sure this is the spot?" Bisca said as she put down her binoculars.

"Yeah, I don't see anything but water." Alzack added.

"This should be the place." Maxa said looking out from the ship.

"I think it's nice, just drifting like this." Alana said smiling as she placed her hair behind her ear. "It's been ages since I've been on a boat."

"Try and stay focused will ya?" Warren scolded.

"Do you think we should have brought Romeo along?" Bisca asked looking at Alzack.

"Unless we brought him by force I don't think we could have convinced him." Alzack answered reluctantly.

"What's that?" Alana asked herself as she noticed something on the water's surface. "Hey guys." Alana called to everyone as she squinted her eyes, leaning forward on the wood of the boat's railing. "I think I see someone on the water."

"What?" Max said walking up next to her. He looked ahead with her, his eyes widening when he noticed it. "She's right, there's someone there. It looks like a little girl…" He squinted to get a better view. "And s-she's standing on the water!" he said astonished.

Everyone looked on with Max and Alana, all of them shocked at the sight. Sure enough there was a young girl standing on the surface of the water. She had long flowing blonde hair and what looked like wings extending from the side of her head. She also wore a long white dress that accented her petite figure.

"What is she doing there?" Warren asked. "Who is she?"

The young girl then outstretched her arm to her side. A loud rumbling was heard and from the water's bottom emerged Tenrou Island.

"It's Tenrou Island!" Jet shouted surprised.

"How did she do that?" Alana asked. Still stuck in their confusion and awe, the advance team's attitude soon shifted when they say the mysterious blonde run towards the island.

"Follow her!" Max shouted as the boat picked up speed.

The group soon landed on Tenrou Island, and watched as the young girl ran into the forest.

"Hey wait up!" Jet yelled after her as he and the others followed.

"Who is that girl?" Bisca asked.

"I have no idea." Warren answered. "But she made Tenrou Island reappear."

"Whoever she is, one thing is for sure; we have to catch up to her and see what she knows." Max said.

"She must also possess a great deal of magical power in order to bring the island up like that." Alana added.

The group soon reached a collapsed part of the forest causing Jet, who was leading the charge thanks to his speed magic, stop in his tracks. The others soon caught up to him.

"What's wrong Jet?" Max asked before looking down in the hole himself, his face becoming as frozen as Jet's.

Everyone else looked down, their faces in complete shock as they saw a clump of pink hair buried under dirt.

"Natsu?" Alzack said in disbelief.

…

Back at the guild hall, Macao and the others awaited word from the away team on the Tenrou Island situation. Kinana stood at her usual place behind the bar, Aura and Asuka were busy playing, Wakaba looked over all of the guild pictures, and Romeo sat at one of the tables reading a book.

"You sure you didn't wanna go with the others?" Macao asked trying to stir some conversation from his son.

"Even if the island is there, it's not like they're alive right?" Romeo said uninterested as he turned the page over in his book.

"Come on don't be like that." Macao said. "You just gotta have a little faith."

"Nothing for 7 years." Romeo said turning another page, causing Macao to sigh. Romeo felt something tug on his vest and he looked to see Aura standing there.

"Romeo can you make another paper ship thingy?" She asked innocently. "Asuka messed up the first one."

"I did not!" Asuka protested.

Romeo smiled a bit and ripped out a piece of paper from one of Reedus' drawing pads. "Yeah, hold on."

Macao smiled softly as he shook his head. "I swear the only time that boy smiles is around Aura."

"Hey!" a voice rang out into the guild hall as the front door was kicked open. Everyone looked over and much to their chagrin, Thiabault and his group had returned. "Looks a little emptier in here than usual. When are you guys just gonna pack it in and leave town?"

"What are you doing back here Thiabault?" Wakaba asked. "We said we'd pay you next month."

"Yeah I remember." Thiabault said with a creepy smile. "And I was perfectly fine with that, but my master was a different story. Looks like he didn't appreciate the delay in payment after you guys agreed to his terms, and what the master says goes so my hands are tied." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"We're not paying you anything." Romeo said, slamming his book closed and standing up.

"Romeo no!" Macao yelled.

"My dad and everyone else may be afraid of you guys but I'm not." Romeo stuck out his hand and a purple flame emerged from his palm. "I'll take you on!" He yelled defiantly. "I won't let you jerks ruin Fairy Tail's name any more.

Thiabault puckered his lips together, blowing out Romeo's flame. Romeo and the others stood shocked, but the young wizard was even more surprised when Aura came up from behind him.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted.

"Aura get back here!" Macao shouted.

"Aura what are you doing? Get back!" Romeo said looking at her, but she refused to move.

"Ha! Look at this." He said pointing at Aura. "Looks like the little girls got more guts than you little man." He said mocking Romeo. "Too bad kid!" Thiabault said raising his club in the air. "Looks like this is the end of the road for you two!"

"No don't!" Macao shouted desperately as he tried to reach them, but he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

Romeo grabbed Aura and turned around, his back facing Thiabault in an attempt to shield her from the attack. He awaited Thiabault's strike but looked up when he heard a thud against the wall in front of him. Romeo looked ahead and saw Thiabault unconscious against the wall. Confused, he looked around at his guild mates, who hadn't moved from their spots. This only served to confuse Romeo more as he noticed that all of the Twilight Ogre members were knocked out. He then looked down at Aura.

"Are you ok?" Romeo asked. Aura nodded with watery eyes, she was clearly frightened. "Good." He said with a smile before flicking her in the forehead with his index finger.

"Ow." Aura excliamed in pain as she teared up more. She covered her forehead with her hands. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you were being a dummy. Don't do something like that again, ok?" he said staring at her intensely. Aura slowly nodded in understanding.

"Good." Romeo said with a smile. "Now what happened?"

"Hey." A voice called from the door. Romeo's eyes widened in surprised as his mind began to register who the sound belonged to. _It can't be._ He thought as he turned around. To his utter disbelief, there stood Natsu, smiling his usual wide smile, and the others from Tenrou Island; along with the group who went to find them.

"Y-y-you're back!" Macao exclaimed completely taken by surprise.

"You're all so young!" Kinana pointed out.

"You guys haven't aged a day!" Nam said next.

"What happened?" Vijeteer chimed in.

"Well…" Lucy began. "It's sort of a long story." She then walked up to the three and began to explain the circumstances behind their return. Romeo continued to stand shocked as Natsu looked in his direction. Romeo still couldn't believe after all these years that they had returned. He was overjoyed, but for some reason he couldn't express it.

"You've gotten big Romeo." Natsu said with a smile.

Tears began to stream down Romeo's face as he looked up at Natsu and the others. "Welcome back…you guys." He said through his sobs. Aura looked up at Romeo and nervously hid herself behind him.

"Come on now." Macao said as he placed his hand on his son's head. "You can't go around crying, you're a man, remember?"

"You're crying too dad." Romeo said as he wiped the tears from his face.

"I just got something in my eye." Macao replied as he wiped away his own tears. "Besides we can't cry in front of her now can we?" Macao said looking at the still nervous Aura.

"Huh?" Natsu said tilting his head in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Could you call Erza over here?" Macao said, his and Romeo's faces now free of tears.

"Uh, sure." Natsu said still confused. "Hey Erza!" he yelled.

"Yes Natsu, what is it?" Erza asked as she walked next to him, having made her way through the crowd of Fairy Tail members.

"I don't know." Natsu replied. "Macao said he wanted to see us."

"Good, I was looking for him." Erza said. "Where's Aura? I can't find her anywhere."

"Well that's what I called you for." Macao said. "There's someone here whose been waiting to meet you." He looked at Aura who was still hiding behind Romeo. "Go on." He whispered. "It's ok."

"Yeah go." Romeo said stepping to the side. "You wanted to see them right?" he said nudging her forward a bit.

"Who are you two-"Erza began but she stopped abruptly when she saw the little girl standing before her. A young girl no older than the age of 6 with light pink hair that extended just beyond her shoulders. She wore a long sleeved shirt with a flower on it and black pants, a plain white scarf wrapped around her neck. She looked up at Natsu and Erza, her light brown eyes projecting an anxious stare that shook the pair even more.

Erza was speechless, her eyes slowly widening in shock as she grabbed Natsu's sleeve. "Natsu…" she said low as her eyes began misting. Natsu was also rendered speechless at the sight.

"Say something." Macao said smiling at Aura.

"H-hi…" Aura said nervously as she twisted her foot in the ground. "I'm-"before Aura could finish Erza suddenly hugged her, holding her tight as if she would fly away if she weren't held down.

"Aura." Erza said sobbing, placing her hand on the back of her shocked daughter's head.

Natsu fell to his knees in disbelief as he watched them. "Aura?" he said to himself. He still had trouble believing that seven years had passed, but seeing his daughter now confirmed everything he was told. He smiled wide as tears began to stream down his face. She was so beautiful, she looked just like Erza.

"I'm so sorry." Erza said as she held Aura tighter to her. "Please, please, forgive me for being so stupid. I left you here alone…We left you here alone. I'm so sorry."

Aura could barely process what was going on. Here were her parents, seven years of waiting for them to return had come down to this moment, and it was almost too much for her young mind to bear. She had waited so long to see them again, but she was frozen in place. Then, as if something clicked inside of her, the young girl's fingers began to twitch. She raised her arms slowly, cradling them behind Erza's back.

"It's ok mama." Aura said, surprising Erza. "I've been a good girl while you were gone. Papa Macao and Romeo and everyone looked after me. Please don't cry anymore."

Erza smiled warmly before feeling more arms cradle around her body. She looked behind her and saw Natsu hugging both her and Aura. "Yeah…" Natsu said with a smile. "We're all together again, so why are you guys crying?" he said as tears streamed down his face.

"You idiot." Erza said to Natsu with a smile as they both held Aura. "You're crying more than both of us."

"Welcome home Mommy and Daddy." Aura said with a wide smile as she began to cry as well.

…

_**One**** Week**** Later**_

_7 years._ Erza thought to herself as she looked out the window of her and Natsu's home. _Were we really gone for that long?_ _It doesn't seem real._ She looked out at the horizon as the setting sun gave the sky a beautiful golden orange hue. She looked down at her hand, turning and rotating it, analyzing it for any signs of age. _I haven't changed at all. None of us from the island have, thanks to Master Mavis._ She sat back in her chair and tried to absorb everything that happened since her return.

…

"Y-You're married?!" Erza asked her eyes wide as she looked at a smiling Alzack and Bisca.

"Yeah, for about 6 years now." Alzack replied.

"It took me forever to wear Al down." Bisca said with a smile nudging him. "He was so nervous and-"

"Can we just skip that part?" Alzack said embarrassed.

"C-congratulations." Erza stammered bowing. "Please take care of her." She said nervously to Alzack.

"Thanks, but you don't have to be so formal Erza." Bisca reassured with a smile as she helped the red-haired wizard stand up straight. "We're the same as you and Natsu."

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, a confused look on her face.

"I mean being married." Bisca replied.

Erza looked away, her face beginning to turn red. "Natsu and I…aren't married." She said low, a bit embarrassed.

"You're not?!" Bisca asked, her eyes wide with surprise. "I could have sworn you two-"

Erza shook her head. "We aren't."

"Well, do you want to marry him?"

"Come on Bisca, that's enough." Alzack said putting his hand on his wife's shoulder, he feared that she was making Erza uncomfortable.

"It's ok." Erza said with a smile, reassuring Alzack. She then looked over at Natsu, who was surrounded by members of the guild as he exaggerated the battle against Grimoire Heart. "It's not that I don't want to marry him-"Erza said with a small smile. "It's just that we haven't really had a chance to talk about it, and you know how Natsu can be."

"You're right about that." Bisca said with a laugh. "He probably wouldn't even know what marriage is." The three of them laughed at the thought of Natsu being in a tuxedo and standing at an altar. Although Erza saw the scene as more attractive than humorous.

Erza looked over to Asuka who was playing with Happy and Carla. "Your daughter is beautiful." Erza said with a warm smile.

"Thank you." Bisca said with a loving smile as they all turned their attention towards the young girl. "She can be a bit of a handful at times though." She said with a small chuckle.

"I imagine most kids are at that age." Erza said with a smile as she held as her own daughter's hand.

…

Erza opened her eyes and returned to looking out the window. _Marrying Natsu._ She thought to herself, although she was bit uneasy at the idea. Of course she loved Natsu, she wanted to be with him for as long as she was able, but marriage was something that rarely entered her mind. It was such a big step, one she would not be able to take lightly. _I'm sure he knows the concept of husband and wife._ Erza thought as she began tapping her finger on the wooden windowsill. _Maybe I'm thinking too much about it. There's no need to rush, we have plenty of time to think about it._ She smiled to herself.

She looked outside and saw that the sky was beginning to turn dark. "Where are they?" she thought aloud. "They should have been back by now." She tapped her finger harder, growing more irritated by the second. "He better not have-"

"We're home!" Natsu yelled, bursting through the front door with a smile. Happy slowly hovered from the Dragon Slayer's shoulder and dropped onto the windowsill exhausted. Erza smiled and pet the exceed, she then narrowed her gaze and looked back towards Natsu.

"Where were you?" she asked in a frightening tone, causing Natsu's hair to stand on end.

"We uh-"he began stammering frightened, Erza continuing to stare a hole in him until she saw a small head of pink hair move from behind his leg.

"Mommy!"Aura ran towards Erza, a huge smile on the little girl's dirt covered face. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were a little worse for wear but Erza nonetheless picked her up and placed her on her lap.

"Hi sweetie." Erza said with a warm smile as she rubbed some of the dirt off of her daughter's cheek. "Did you have fun with Daddy and Aunt Lucy?" she asked.

Aura nodded with a smile. "Yeah, we took the train to Shiso…Shirot…"

"Shirotsume." Erza said with a smile.

"Yeah there. Daddy got sick on the train and he started making funny faces." Aura tried to imitate Natsu's sick faces, causing Erza to laugh.

"How did you get all dirty?" Erza asked in a motherly tone.

"Daddy took me to the park when we got home."

"Yeah and it rained yesterday so it was still wet." Natsu said with a nervous laugh, he knew Erza was still angry with him.

"Well let's get you cleaned up." Erza said standing up as Aura got off of her lap and grabbed her hand. "Then it's off to bed, it is well past your bedtime."

"But I'm not tired." Aura whined.

"The faster you go to sleep, the faster you can see everyone at the guild hall tomorrow." Erza said, causing the young girl to smile.

"Really?" Aura said. Erza simply nodded.

Natsu tried to inch towards the bedroom. "Stay right there Natsu." Erza commanded not looking at him, instantly causing him to stop. "I'll deal with you in a moment."

An hour later Erza had finished bathing Aura and placed her in bed, she also placed Happy in his hammock over Aura's shelf. It took about a week to remodel Aura's room since she was no longer a baby, but not much had changed aside from the bed and a few of the more baby friendly items being taken out. Erza smiled as her daughter slept peacefully, she then slowly closed the door to her room.

She walked back towards the main area of the house, Natsu was still standing at attention. "You can relax." She said. Natsu graciously relaxed his body and hesitantly sat at the dining table across from Erza.

"Are you mad at me?" Natsu said with puppy dog eyes.

"No, I'm not mad." Erza said sighing. "I was just…worried."

"Sorry." Natsu said sulking. He knew why Erza was in her current mood, if the roles were reversed he would have felt the same way.

"It's ok." Erza said. "Just be more careful next time."

"I will." Natsu replied still sulking.

Erza smiled softly and placed her hands on the table. Suddenly Natsu felt something on his forehead and looked up, Erza had leaned over the table, kissing him on the forehead. He blushed as he watched her sit back down.

"Now, how did the job with Lucy go?" she asked with a smile.

"You should have been there-"Natsu began with a smile as he began regaling Erza about his day, telling her of them of the bandits they caught and also of Lucy's father. Unbeknownst to the two, they were being watched from afar.

"Is this the place?" asked a shadowed figure looking at Natsu and Erza's house from the trees.

"Yes." Another figure answered. "It is just as he predicted. All of Fairy Tail's lost members have returned."

"What do we do?" the first figure asked.

"It would be unwise to proceed without the Master's approval." The figure looked at their arm, it glowed faintly showing the names of the other members that returned from Tenrou Island. "We should check out the others on the list and report our findings to him."

"Fine." The second figure conceded. "Who is next?"

"Wendy Marvell." The first figure said. The two then sprouted wings and took to the air, their next destination being Fairy Hills dormitory.

"How much longer must we wait?" the second figure asked irritated.

"Be patient." the first figure said. "We report our findings to the master and he will devise a plan based off of the oracles visions."

"But we still have yet to retrieve Yggdrasil." the second figure said impatiently.

"No need to fret, Lord Balder has been sent to retrieve her. She will soon be returned." the first figure reassured as the two flew over the downtown square of Magnolia.

"This should be everything." Laki said with a smile as she made her way through the market and towards Fairy Hills. She then felt a presence, instinctively looking up to the sky to see what looked like two angels flying above her. Her eyes widened in fear, dropping her bags as she began to shake. "No." she said fearful._ It can't be, why would they be in Fiore?_ She thought anxiously. Wait. she thought following the two men with her eyes. _The direction they're going, they're heading towards._

Laki then began making a beeline for Fairy Hills, leaving her groceries in the street.

...

* * *

**Here is the next chapter. It is sort of a rehash of the return chapter in the manga, just added a few scenes, characters and changed some of the dialogue around to match what was going on. I also added in an edited version of the preview to link the story together, which gives a sneak peek at the antagonists. Anyway read and review and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading :)**


	6. Rumblings

Laki entered the storage area on the other side of the guild hall, a serious look coloring her otherwise polite face. Inside the storage room she found Master Makarov sitting atop one of the tables, long pipe in hand as Mirajane and Laxus stood on either side of him.

Laki made sure no one followed her before locking the door from the inside. "Thanks for meeting with me like this Master." She said politely bowing. "I know this a bit weird to do this out of the blue."

"Not at all child." Makarov said as smoke billowed from his pipe. "It must be urgent if you needed to call me into the store room instead of in the hall with the others."

"I didn't want to worry anyone in case it was nothing." Laki answered with a smile.

"Yo gramps." Laxus said. "Why isn't Erza in here with us? Shouldn't all the S-Class wizards be here?"

"Erza is currently on a job." Makarov answered. "Mirajane has offered to fill her in later." He then turned his attention to the lavender haired wizard. "Now Laki, what is it that has you so troubled?"

Laki looked down a bit distressed, before speaking. "Well, a few days ago I spotted some men heading towards the Fairy Hills dormitory."

"That all?" Laxus asked slightly irritated that his time was wasted.

"It's not the first time perverts have tried to get a peek at some of our girls at home." Mirajane said with a smile.

"No, that's not it." Laki said, her words hardened.

**_ 3 nights earlier_**

Laki ascended the hill towards the Fairy Hills dormitory as fast as she could. _Please, not them. Don't let it be them._ She reached the top of the hill out of breath, but her fatigue had no bearing in her mind as she approached the dormitory. To her relief, and slight unease, the men she had been following were still there.

Whether they had just arrived or were already there mattered not to Laki, she just hoped that they were mere lecherous men rather than the suspicions that were in her mind.

"This is the Fairy Hill's dormitory?" One of the still shadowed figures asked looking at the dorm. "Such a garish building." He said placing his hand on it. "Can I destroy it?" his croaky voice barely containing his enthusiasm about the possibility.

"No." his companion said sternly. "We are only here to observe and report, no need for unnecessary destruction." He placed his own hands on the wall of the dorm, gradually the building began to glow in a dull green light. "I'll use this draining spell in order to knock out the residents."

"Hey! Who are you guys?!" Laki yelled as she approached the dorm. The two figures were slightly startled by her sudden outburst.

"Someone has spotted us." The calmer figure sighed. "Take care of her Vali. I need a couple of minutes before the spell is in full effect."

"Finally." The croaky voiced figure, now known as Vali, smirked sadistically. He reached his hand out and in a burst of golden light, a bow and arrow appeared.

Laki's eyes widened. _He's a requip wizard?_ Suddenly an arrow was shot in her direction. _He's fast._ She jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the arrows point. It collided with a tree behind her, freezing it. _What?_ Laki thought astonished as she looked back at her enemy.

"Surprised girl?" Vali said readying another arrow, taking off his hood. His face, while still slightly obscured by the darkness could be seen well enough by Laki. Long, disheveled hair as black as the night, a beard almost the length of his entire chest, also black; framing his narrow face. He readied another arrow, shooting it just as fast as the first one.

_I can't dodge this one._ Laki thought. _In that case._ She pressed her hands together, gathering her magical energy before slamming them onto the ground.

**_WOOD MAKE: WOOD WALL_**

A giant wooden wall emerged in front of Laki, cutting her off from her ferocious attacker. Vali simply smirked as his arrow pierced the wall, setting it ablaze in a brilliant red flame.

Laki's eyes widened as she jumped out of the way. _Fire?_

"Maker magic, impressive." Vali said, once again reaching into his quiver. "I have not faced one of your kind in quite some time."

"How are you able to shoot arrows like that?" Laki asked.

"My arrows points are made of a lacrima that can utilize different magical attributes." Vali answered smirking as he readied more arrows, this time placing three on his string.

_Three arrows?_ Laki readied herself for his next attack.

"It looks as if this was not a fortunate day for you, girl." Vali said cockily as he released his arrows. Laki looked on, her eyes widening as the three arrow heads began crackling with electrical energy. Laki clasped her hands together again.

**_WOOD MAKE: WOOD WALL_**

Another wall separated the two wizards, but just like before it fell when Vali's arrows collided with it.

"Surely you know by now that trick will not fare better a second time." Vali said as the dust from the collision began to settle. "Now what say we stop postponing the inventible and-"Vali's eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the broken wood wall, but no Laki. "I see Fairy Tail wizards are quite the cowardly pack of mongrels." He said irritated as he followed her footsteps into the forest.

Laki ran through the trees, finding shelter behind one of them. She looked over the side of the tree, seeing Vali slowly approaching her direction although it was clear he had no precise idea where she was. _He's strong._ She thought to herself.

"Come out, girl!" Vali yelled. "I grow weary of these paltry games!" He pulled another arrow from his quiver.

Laki looked at her hand, clenching her fist tightly and taking a deep breath. _Looks like I have to do that, but it's been years. Can I still use that much power?_ She saw Vali close in on her. _I have no choice. I have to protect the girls._

Vali pointed his bow into the air, shooting another arrow. This one let off a brilliant light, which illuminated the entire forest. Realizing her time was up, Laki stepped from behind the tree, much to Vali's delight.

"Ah there you are. I see you accept your death graciously." He smirked in satisfaction. He walked towards her, but only managed two steps before his legs began to shake. "What is this?" he said furrowing his brow. He then looked up at Laki and his eyes widened, his body breaking out in a cold sweat. "What is this pressure I'm feeling? My entire body is shaking. It can't be from this girl."

Laki walked towards Vali slowly removing her glasses and hair tie, as her hands glowed bright.

…

"Wow, it's been some time since you've gone all out." Mirajane said impressed.

"Well I'm still far weaker than you two." Laki said scratching the back of her head.

"What happened to the other guy?" Laxus asked getting back on topic.

"I don't know." Laki replied sullen. "He was gone when came back to the dormitory."

"Do you know what they wanted?" Mirajane asked.

Laki shook her head. "No, the man I defeated refused to talk and the Fiore branch of the council said they were unable to interrogate him due to diplomatic immunity."

"Diplomatic immunity?" Mirajane asked shocked.

"Where'd he come from?" Laxus asked.

"They told me he was a wizard from the Pergrande Kingdom." Laki answered.

"The Pergrande Kingdom? But that's in the far north, why would wizards from that area be in Fiore?" Mirajane asked.

"I don't know." Laki said.

"So what do you want us to do gramps?" Laxus asked looking at Makarov. "It's obvious they're after Fairy Tail."

Makarov sat on the table, his eyes closed as tobacco smoke continued to escape from the opening of his pipe. "For now we wait until we have more information. No use in starting a war with another country's guild with no conclusive evidence as to why they were here."

"If that's what you want." Laxus said crossing his arms, although Makarov could tell his grandson was less than pleased about his decision.

"What about everyone else Master?" Mirajane asked. "Do we tell them?"

"No, we keep it between us four and Erza for now." Makarov said. "We don't want to cause a panic if this turns out to be nothing. I'll reach out to Yajima and see if he can use his remaining connections within the council to gather us more information. So for now, just pretend everything is normal and don't breathe a word of this to anyone." He then looked at Mirajane. "Make sure Erza receives the same message."

"Yes Master." Mirajane nodded. She and Laxus then exited the storage room, leaving Laki and Master Makarov alone.

Makarov waited until he was sure Laxus and Mirajane were out of earshot before he spoke again. "Was it them?" he asked looking at Laki.

Laki nodded. "Yes, I recognized their mark. It was most definitely Fenrir's Fang."

"Why would they be in Fiore of all places? Are they after you?"

Laki shook her head. "I don't think so, only a select few of the guild know I left."

"You don't believe they told?"

"They have no idea where I went, but if they did I'm sure we would have run into them long before now."

"What do you want to do about this, Laki? You know more about them than I."

Laki paused for a moment as she thought about Makarov's question. "I think I'll go to the Pergrande Kingdom myself and look for information on Fenrir's actions. With any luck they might let me back in the guild." Laki smiled, but that didn't erase the concerned look on Makarov's face.

"Do you want Laxus, Mirajane, or Erza to accompany you?" Makarov asked. "We could disguise it as it S-Class job."

Laki shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. Besides those three just came back, I'm sure they won't want to leave so soon." She smiled.

"Fine." Makarov said. "But I want you to stay in touch. You will leave for the Pergrande Kingdom tomorrow morning before the guild opens its doors."

"Yes Master." Laki said.

…

In the Laurian desert, one of the most arid places in the Pergrande Kingdom, a lone figure walked among the heated sands as the furious winds blew hot sand. Adorned in a brown cloak, the figure continued to trudge through the heavy terrain.

_I have been walking for days._ The cloaked figure thought to themselves, their stomach growling from hunger as they tried to moisten their dry lips. _Where am I going?_ The figure shook their head vigorously.

_Stay focused!_ They yelled internally. _I have to hold on just a bit more. Their agents are everywhere throughout the kingdom._ _I still have no idea as to why Freyja agreed to cover my escape, but I cannot afford to worry about that now_, _my mind continues to fade away by the second. At any moment I could forget everything, and the reason for my escape from that place will have been for naught. Where did I escape from?_

The figure hit their head with their palm, as if it would stop their leaking memories. _Just a bit more time is all I ask, I need to persevere until I reach the port._ The figure looked up as they heard chatter going on around them.

_Where am I now? _They asked themselves as they looked around were bright lights and tall elegantly constructed buildings. Loud soothing music could be heard from the speakers attached to the street lamps as tourists excitedly entered and toured the shops and other attractions. _Good, I've made it Jergrande. The port should not be that much farther ahead. _Thecloaked figure then began making their way through the crowds.

_Things used to be simple,_ _fun even._ The figure reminisced with a pained smile as they thought of faces they no longer knew the names of. _Were we always so secretive? Master…I cannot remember his name… why can I not remember? _The figure continued to trudge down the paved streets of Jergrande.

_Yggdrasil…? Valhalla..? Everything is blurring, fading away one piece at a time. I feel like I should be doing something…should I? Why can I not remember?! _They screamed internally. Their head beginning to throb from the intense pain of broken memories. _I have to stop…something… _The figure continued to wince.

"Ahhh!" a shrill voice cried out from the cloak, garnering the attention of the tourists and a nearby soldier. The figure fell to their knees, hands place firmly on their temple as the soldier ran over to them.

"Hey, are you alright?" the soldier asked concerned.

The figure looked back at him and began to panic. "No!" they yelled. "You're one of them! Stay away from me!" The figure screamed, pushing away the soldier and running away into the crowd.

"Hey!" the soldier yelled reaching out his hand, but the cloaked figure was gone. "What was that about?"

The figure continued running down the street, as memories and experiences began to fade to white in their mind. _I don't want to forget! I don't want to forget! I don't want to…_

Suddenly they stopped in front of an alley way. They reached up to their eyes, touching warm liquid. They looked at their fingers.

_What is this?_ They asked. _Tears? Why am I crying? Did something sad happen to me?_ Faint images appeared in their mind, but nothing giving an answer.

They then looked around themselves, taking in their surroundings. _Where am I now? It looks like a city, it seems very lively and it's quite beautiful. _They smiled a bit as they looked at the people walking about._ The people here seem happy._

They then felt their heart racing. _I seem to have been running…from something._ I need to rest. They reached into their pocket pulling out 450 jewel. _I do not seem to have enough for an inn. I guess whatever I was doing here did not require me to stay in one._ The figure then looked around for a spot to rest. _This alley looks secluded enough. I think I will just rest my eyes for a while_. The figure thought as they began to lie down. _Maybe then I will…remember._

**2 Hours Later**

_Where am I? How did I end up in this alley?_ The figure thought confused. They stood up more than a little disoriented surveying their surroundings as the hood of their cloak fell off, revealing a beautiful young girl. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue, contrasting to her light brown hair that sported an elegant side braid. She walked out of the alley, not spotting the mini garden that had grown where she slept.

She made her way to the Jergrande port, out of an instinct. _The water is so clear and blue_, _I have never seen anything like it…have I?_ _There appears to be a passenger boat over there._ She walked off to her right, being careful to count her steps. Although the reason she was doing so alluded her.

"Excuse me sir." She said to the captain of the boat. He turned around and looked at the young girl. He was a stout man, no taller than her. His face wearing a permanent scowl as his cigar puffed out smoke.

"Can I help you?" he asked her, his gravelly voice causing her to feel a tad uneasy.

"Are you accepting passengers?" she asked smiling.

"That depends, how much ya got?" he asked looking her up and down. The young girl looked at her own attire, and her eyes widened some.

_Was I always wearing this cloak? _She thought tugging on it a bit.

She reached into her pants pocket, and held out her hand when she felt coins. "I have…" she counted the change in her hand. "450 jewel." _How long have I had this?_ She thought, her stomach growled. _I should have purchased food. _

The man looked at her curiously, scratching his balding head with his cap. "I usually charge 600 for a ride, but you seem like a nice girl, if a bit strange. So I'll only charge you 300."

"Thank you sir." she replied with a bow and boarded the boat. The captain released the sails and the wind began to carry them away from the port. The young girl turned around and looked back at the city, its lights were stunning to behold in the dark. She tried to think of the city's name, but nothing came to mind.

"So, where are ya headed little lady?" the captain asked.

"Fiore." she answered quickly. A confused looked then appeared on her face. She had no idea what Fiore even was, she just answered with the first thing that popped into her mind.

"Fiore, huh?" the captain said. "Not many people travel there these days."

"Is there any particular reason as to why not?" she asked intrigued, trying to gather information on why she would go there.

"Not a clue." He answered with a shrug. "Personally I prefer it to this place, the people there are friendlier, but I gotta make a living somehow." He laughed to himself, the young girl joining him although she didn't know why she found his statement funny. "How long are you staying in Fiore?" he asked.

"I do not know. I assume I will return here when my business is done in that place." The young girl answered.

"What business is that?"

"I don't remember, but I feel as if there is something in this…Fiore that will help me answer that question."

"Soul searching, huh? Seems a bit too early for someone your age, but I guess it's never really too early to find yourself." The captain said as he looked back at her and smiled, showing off his yellow tinted teeth. The young girl returned his smile with one of her own before looking back towards Jergrande, the lights fading as they moved further away from the shore.

"By the way, I never did ask. What's your name, kid?" the captain asked. "Mines Jaco."

"My name?" she said looking back at him. "I do not…remember."

"Well that's no good." He said back to her. He pondered for a minute. "How about…Shizuka?"

"Shizuka?" she asked tilting her head.

"Yeah, it means quiet. I think it fits you perfectly since you don't talk too much." He replied with a smile and a laugh.

"Ok, then my name is Shizuka." she replied with a smile, completely content with a complete stranger giving her a name. "It is a pleasure to meet you Jaco."

"Pleasure is all mine little lady." Jaco said.

The newly christened Shizuka then returned to staring at the fading Jergrande. She felt a sinking, uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"The Pergrande Kingdom…" she said low. "I have a feeling that I will return here soon."

…

* * *

**Here is the next chapter, took forever to get this one done. It went through a lot of revisions lol. Sorry for the lack of Natsu, Erza, and Aura; this chapter is used as set up for the main antagonists of the story. Although we will get back to the main three in the next chapter. So until then thanks for reading and let me know what you think. :)**


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